UBRARY OF CONGRESS 







1>> * n 






^ v* 



,0 V V' 



^> ^ c 



<«■ & 



v \ 




\ v 



,0 6. 



,0 J 











^ % 







\L? ^. 






,0 o 






^ ^ 



1 <i> 



V 









* ^/,. 




& %: 






b N : 









-0- c o 



*& 












o x 


:'^ 


^ 



.*>'• 



y> 



rPVs 






A' 



> 




«> % **' 



V , 



ri* .< 



^ / 









oV 



V* 



O0 l 



v- V 






% <£ 






%: 






^ 







D.T" 









,%* %. 



^ v 



W 



',% 



fj~ \? 






<& 



O0' 



>- / ■%. 



,0o. 



'°i- » 



\* 



** ' 



<CT 



•^ 



CONSTITUTION OF MAN 



CONSIDERED IN 



RELATION TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS 



GEORGE COMBE. 



Vain is the ridicule with which one sees some persons will divert themselves, 
upon finding lesser pains considered as instances of divine punishment. There is 
no possibility of answering or evading the general thing here intended, without 
denying all final causes. — Butler's Analogy. 



IJSJTOWUC 



^tOGi ' 



BOSTON ; 

PUBLISHED BY CARTER AND HENDEE, 

Corner of Washington and School Streets. 

1829. 






^ft^Hoi 



^ • s H|44i 






Examiner Press — School Street. 



PREFACE. 



This Essay would not have been presented to the public, 
had I not believed that it contains views of the constitution, 
condition, and prospects of Man, which deserve attention ; but 
these, I trust, are not ushered forth with anything approach- 
ing to a presumptuous spirit. I lay no claim to originality of 
conception. My first notions of the natural laws were derived 
from an unpublished manuscript of Dr Spurzheim, with the 
perusal of which I was honored some years ago; and all my 
inquiries and meditations since have impressed me more and 
more with a conviction of their importance. The materials 
employed lie open to all. Taken separately, I would hardly 
say that a new truth has been presented in the following 
work. The parts have all been admitted and employed again 
and again, by writers on morals, from Socrates down to the 
present day. In this respect, there is nothing new under the 
sun. The only novelty in this Essay respects the relations 
which acknowledged truths hold to each other. Physical 
laws of nature, affecting our physical condition, as well as 
regulating the whole material system of the universe, are 
universally acknowledged, and constitute the elements of nat- 
ural philosophy and chemical science. Physiologists, medical 
practitioners, and all who take medical aid, admit the existence 



Vlll PREFACE. 

of organic laws ; and the science of government, legislation 
education, indeed our whole train of conduct through life, 
proceed upon the admission of laws in morals. Accordingly, 
the laws of nature have formed an interesting subject of 
inquiry to philosophers of all ages ; but, so far as I am aware, 
no author has hitherto attempted to point out, in a combined 
and systematic form, the relations between these laws and 
the constitution of Man ; which must, nevertheless, be done, 
before our knowledge of them can be beneficially applied. 
The great object of the following Essay is to exhibit these 
relations, with a view to the improvement of education, and 
the regulation of individual conduct. 

But, although my purpose is practical, a theory of Mind 
forms an essential element in the execution of the plan. 
Without it, no comparison can be instituted between the 
natural constitution of man and external objects. Phrenology 
appears to me to be the clearest, most complete, and best 
supported system of Human Nature, which has hitherto been 
taught; and I have assumed it as the basis of this Essay. 
But the practical value of the views now to be unfolded does 
not depend on Phrenology. This theory of Mind itself is 
valuable, only in so far as it is a just exposition of what pre- 
viously existed in human nature. We are physical, organic, 
and moral beings, acting under the sanction of general laws, 
let the merits of Phrenology be what they may. Individuals 
will, under the impulse of passion, or by the direction of 
intellect, hope, fear, wonder, perceive, and act, whether the 
degree in which they habitually do so, be ascertainable on 
phrenological principles or not. In so far, therefore, as this 
Essay treats of the known qualities of Man, it may be instruc- 
tive even to those who contemn Phrenology as unfounded ; 



PREFACE. IX 

while it can prove useful to no one, if it shall depart from the 
true elements of mental philosophy, by whatever system these 
may be expounded. 

I have endeavoured to avoid all religious controversy. 
'The object of Moral Philosophy,' says Mr Stewart, 'is to 
ascertain the general rules of a wise and virtuous conduct 
in life, in so far as these rules may be discovered by the 
unassisted light of nature ; that is, by an examination of the 
principles of the human constitution, and of the circumstances 
in which Man is placed.'* By following this method of 
inquiry, Dr Hutcheson, Dr Adam Smith, Dr Reid, Mr 
Stewart, and Dr Thomas Brown, have, in succession, 
produced highly interesting and instructive works on Moral 
Science ; and the present Essay is a humble attempt to pursue 
the same plan, with the aid of the new lights afforded by 
phrenology. 

* Outlines of Moral Philosophy, p. 1. 
Edinburgh, 9th June, 1828. 



PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



The author of the following work is known in this country 
by his Essays on Phrenology. Few men in Great Britain 
have discovered more sincere devotion to this subject itself, 
or more zeal in communicating it to others, than Mr Combe. 
He shows every where in what he has written on phrenology 
a full conviction that his favorite science is founded in nature ; 
that it will aid the study and progress of intellectual philoso- 
phy ; that for want of its aids this philosophy has hitherto 
necessarily been imperfect ; that, in short, phrenology is sus- 
ceptible of a wide and useful application, and is destined to 
exert an important influence over the whole circle of human 
interests. 

The following essay on the Constitution of Man is founded 
on phrenology ; at least, the phrenological classification of the 
human faculties is adopted by the writer as the basis of his 
observations. This can hardly be objected to. To those who 
have studied phrenology it will be a recommendation ; and to 
those who know it only by name, sufficient is brought into 
view in the volume to give them a general notion of a science 
which has engaged many able minds, and which in its mea- 
sure belongs to the intellectual labors of the age. Mr Combe 
does not appear to use it, in order to make converts to the 



Vlll PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 

phrenological faith ; but rather brings it in to .promote the 
great object of his present publication. This object is human 
happiness in an extended use of the term. He says, in 
amount, to lessen misery and increase happiness is his great 
purpose, and to accomplish this, his labor has been to discover 
as many of the contrivances of the Creator, for effecting 
beneficial purposes as possible ; and secondly, to point out in 
what manner by accommodating our conduct to these contri- 
vances we may attain one great end of our being. 

In prosecution of this design, Mr Combe's first inquiries are 
directed to the external world. He regards things first, as 
they are ; and secondly, the purposes of their creation. 
These inquiries involve many very interesting views relating 
to the world without us ; the actual condition of things ; their 
mutual influences, whether remote or near ; whether contin- 
gent or necessary. The circumstances under which phenom- 
ena take place, or with the author, the established and con- 
stant modes or processes according to which phenomena are 
produced, are laws, rules of action ; and the first part of his 
work treats of natural laivs. In the second chapter, Mr 
Combe treats of the constitution of man, and its relations to 
external things. In the first place man is regarded as & phy- 
sical being, composed of physical elements, and to a certain 
extent, and under like circumstances, exhibiting like phenome- 
na with the objects of the external material world. In the 
next place he is viewed as an organized being, and the laws 
of his organization, together with the correspondences and 
differences between these and the natural laws are pointed out. 
The moral and intellectual constitution of man are treated 
under precisely similar aspects. The whole subject is de- 
veloped with great skill, and made clear and interesting by a 
great variety of very happy illustration. 

The main design of this work is never lost sight of. This 
is to make men happier and better, — to show how the human 
race may be as happy as the constitution of man actually fits 
it to be. To do this, the author assumes that this constitution 
was designed to harmonize perfectly with itself in all its 



PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. IX 

parts ; and also with the whole creation so far as it is capable 
of being brought into relations with it. In the next place he 
labors to show that in order to the accomplishment of this 
design, sufficiently varied and active powers have been com- 
mitted to man, and if he fails of the happiness for which he 
was designed here, it is not because he wants capacity of 
felicity, but because he has misused the powers with which 
he has been blessed. Human happiness then consists in an 
exact accordance of all the laws which are in operation with- 
in us, and again of these with all the laws which govern the 
external world. Human misery is the direct and necessary 
consequence of an infringement of these laws, or of some of 
them. The same skill is shown in treating this part of the 
work which has been noticed as characterising the other. 
The same felicity of illustration is every where discoverable. 
The earnestness of truth is the prevailing characteristic, and 
a truly benevolent purpose marks every page. 

Mr Combe's work should be placed with those, of which so 
many within a few years have appeared, which are devoted to 
the all-absorbing topic of Education. It treats of moral, in- 
tellectual, and physical education. This is not formally done 
under so many distinct heads. But the whole course of rea- 
soning of the author, and the whole array of all his illustra- 
tions, have it always obviously in view to show how the highest 
cultivation of each of these may be most surely brought about. 

The publishers have printed this edition from a belief that 
there is much in the work to interest the community. It has 
novelty to reward the general inquirer, and it presents the 
well known under novel aspects. There is one class amongst 
us who may study it with much advantage. Scholars are re- 
ferred to, a class here too small to form a distinct order with 
habits of their own, and who insensibly fall into those which 
although not mischievous to the multitude on the score of 
health, too often make ill health the portion of the sedentary 
student, and bring upon him premature decay. To all classes 
it is recommended, and the various learning, and acuteness of 
the author well fit him to write a book which addresses its 
instructions to the whole community. 



CONTENTS. 



ON NATURAL LAWS, 



CHAPTER I. 
13 

CHAPTER II. 



OF THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN, AND ITS RELATIONS TO 

EXTERNAL OBJECTS, 33 

Sect. I. Man considered as a Physical Being, . . 35 
II. Man considered as an Organized Being, . 38 

III. Man considered as an animal — Moral — and In- 

tellectual Being, 44 

IV. The Faculties of Man compared with each other ; 

or the supremacy of the Moral Sentiments and 

Intellect, 48 

V. The Faculties of Man compared with External 

Objects, 72 

VI. On the sources of Human Happiness, and the 

conditions requisite for maintaining it, . 79 
VII. Application of the Natural Laws to the practical 

arrangements of Life, . . . .96 

CHAPTER III. 

TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THE MISERIES OF MANKIND 
REFERABLE TO INFRINGEMENTS OF THE LAWS OF NA- 
TURE, s 105 



Xll CONTENTS. 

Sect. I. Calamities arising from infringement? of the 

Physical Laws, 105 

II. On the Evils that befall Mankind, from infringe- 
ment of the Organic Laws, , . . 112 

III. Calamities arising from infringement of the 

Moral Law, . . . . . . 200 

IV. Moral advantages of Punishment, . . . 249 

CHAPTER IV. 

ON THE COMBINED OPERATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS, 255 
CONCLUSION, 276 



APPENDIX. 

Note I. Natural Laws, [Text, p. 13.] ... 289 
II. Organic Laws, [Text, p. 108.] . . .294 

III. Death— Decreasing Mortality, [Text, p. 183.] 300 

IV. Moral Law, [Text, p. 225.] . . .305 



ESSAY 

ON THE 

CONSTITUTION OF MAN, 

AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

ON NATURAL LAWS. 

A statement of the evidence of a great intelli- 
gent First Cause is given in the 'Phrenological 
Journal,' and in the ' System of Phrenology.' I 
hold this existence as capable of demonstration. 
By Nature, I mean the workmanship of this great 
Being, such as it is revealed to our minds by our 
senses and faculties. 

In natural science, three subjects of inquiry 
may be distinguished. 1st. What exists? 2dly. 
What is the purpose or design of what exists; and, 
3dly. Why was what exists designed for such use- 
es as it evidently subserves ? For example, — It is 
matter of fact that arctic regions and torrid zones 
exist, — that a certain kind of moss is most abund- 
ant in Lapland in mid-winter, — that the rein-deer 
feeds on it, and enjoys high health and vigor in 
situations where most other animals would die ; 
further, it is matter of fact that camels exist in 
2 



14 ON NATURAL LAWS. 

Africa, — that they have broad hooves, and stomachs 
fitted to retain water for a length of time, and that 
they flourish amid arid tracts of sand, where the 
rein-deer would not live for a day. All this falls 
under the inquiry, What exists ? But in contemplat- 
ing the foregoing facts, it is impossible not to in- 
fer that one object of the Lapland moss is to feed 
the rein-deer, and one purpose of the deer is to as- 
sist man : and that, in like manner, broad feet have 
been given to the camel to enable it to walk on 
sand, and a retentive stomach to fit it for arid 
places in which water is not found except at wide 
intervals. These are inquiries into the use or pur- 
pose of what exists. In like manner, we may in- 
quire, What purpose do sandy deserts and desolate 
heaths subserve in the economy of nature? In 
short, an inquiry into the use or purpose of any 
object that exists, is merely an examination of its 
relations to other objects and beings, and of the 
modes in ivhich it affects them ; and this is quite a 
legitimate exercise of the human intellect. But, 
3dly, we may ask, why were the physical elements 
of nature created such as they are? Why were 
summer, autumn, spring, and winter introduced ? 
Why were animals formed of organized matter? 
These are inquiries why what exists was made such 
as it is, or into the will of the Deity in creation. 
Now, man's perceptive faculties are adequate to 
the first inquiry, and his reflective faculties to the 
second; but it may well be doubted whether he 
as powers suited to the third. My investigations 



ON NATURAL LAWS. 15 

are confined to the first and second, and I do not 
discuss the third. 

A law, in the common acceptation, denotes a 
rule of action; its existence indicates an establish- 
ed and constant mode, or process, according to 
which phenomena take place ; and this is the sense 
in which I shall use it, when treating of physical 
substances and beings. For example, water and 
heat are substances ; and water presents different 
appearances, and manifests certain qualities, ac- 
cording to the altitude of its situation, and the de- 
gree of heat with which it is combined. When 
at the level of the sea, and combined with that 
portion of heat indicated by 32° of Fahrenheit's 
thermometer, it freezes or becomes solid ; when 
combined with the portion denoted by 212° of that 
instrument, it rises into vapour or steam. Here wa- 
ter and heat are the substances, — the freezing and 
rising in vapour are the appearances or phenomena 
presented by them ; and when we say that these 
take place according to a Law of Nature, we mean 
only that these modes of action appear, to our in- 
tellects, to be established in the very constitution 
of the water and heat, and in their natural relation- 
ship to each other ; and that the processes of freez- 
ing and rising in vapour are their constant appear- 
ances, when combined in these proportions, other 
conditions being the same. 

The ideas chiefly to be kept in view are, 1st. 
That all substances and beings have received a 
definite natural constitution ; 2dly. That every 



16 ON NATURAL LAWS. 

mode of action, which is said to take pkice accord- 
ing to a natural law, is inherent in the constitution 
of the substance, or being, that acts; and, 3dly. 
That the mode of action described is universal and 
invariable, wherever and whenever the substances, 
or beings, are found in the same condition. For 
example, water, at the level of the sea, freezes and 
boils, at the same temperature, in China and in 
France, in Peru and in England ; and there is no 
exception to the regularity with which it exhibits 
these appearances, when all its conditions are the 
same : For cceteris paribus is a condition which 
pervades all departments of science, phrenology in- 
cluded. If water be carried to the top of a moun- 
tain 20,000 feet high, it boils at a lower tempera- 
ture than 212°, but this again depends on its rela- 
tionship to the air, and takes place also according 
to fixed and invariable principles. The air exerts 
a great pressure on the water. At the level of the 
sea the pressure is nearly the same in all quarters 
of the globe, and in that situation the freezing 
points and boiling points correspond all over the 
world ; but on the top of a high mountain the 
pressure is much less, and the vapour not being 
held down by so great a power of resistance, rises 
at a lower degree of heat than 212°. But this 
change of appearances does not indicate a change 
in the constitution of the water and the heat, but 
only a variation of the circumstances in which they 
are placed; and hence it is not correct to say, that 
water boiling on the tops of high mountains, at a 



ON NATURAL LAWS. 17 

lower temperature than 212°, is an exception to 
the general law of nature : there never are excep- 
tions to the laws of nature ; for the Creator is too 
wise and too powerful to make imperfect or incon- 
sistent arrangements. The error is in the human 
mind inferring the law to be, that water boils at 
212° in all altitudes ; when the real law is only 
that it boils at that temperature, at the level of the 
sea, in all countries ; and that it boils at a lower 
temperature, the higher it is carried, because there 
the pressure of the atmosphere is diminished. 

Intelligent beings exist, and are capable of mo- 
difying their actions. By means of their faculties, 
the laws impressed by the Creator on physical sub- 
stances become known to them; and, when per- 
ceived, constitute laws to them, by which to regu- 
late their conduct. For example, it is a physical 
aw, that boiling water destroys the muscular and 
nervous systems of man. This is the result purely 
of the constitution of the body, and the relation be- 
tween it and heat ; and man cannot alter or suspend 
that law. But whenever the human intellect per- 
ceives the relation, and the consequences of violat- 
ing it, the mind is prompted to avoid infringement, 
in order to shun the torture attached by the Creator 
to the decomposition of the human body by heat. 

Similiar views have long been taught by philoso- 
phers and divines. Bishop Butler, in particular, 
says: — ' An Author of Nature being supposed, it 
is not so much a deduction of reason as a matter 
of experience, that we are thus under his govern- 
2* 



M* 



18 ON NATURAL LAWS. 

ment, in the same sense as we are under the gpv- 
ernment of civil magistrates. Because the annex- 
ing pleasure to some actions, and pain to others, 
in our power to do or forbear, and giving notice 
of this appointment beforehand to those whom it 
concerns, is the proper formal notion of govern- 
ment. Whether the pleasure or pain which thus 
follows upon our behaviour, be owing to the Au- 
thor of Nature's acting upon us every moment 
which we feel it, or to his having at once contriv- 
ed and executed his own part in the plan of the 
world, makes no alteration as to the matter before 
us. For, if civil magistrates could make the sanc- 
tions of their laws take place, without interposing 
at all, after they had passed them, without a trial, 
and the formalities of an execution ; if they were 
able to make their laws execute themselves, or 
every offender to execute them upon himself, we 
should be just in the same sense under their gov- 
ernment then as we are now ; but in a much high- 
er degree and more perfect manner. Vain is the 
ridicule with tvhich one sees some persons ivill di- 
vert themselves, upon finding lesser pains con- 
sidered as instances of divine punishment. 
There is no possibility of answering or evad- 
ing the general thing here intended, without de- 
nying all final causes. For, final causes being 
admitted, the pleasures and pains now mentioned 
must be admited too, as instances of them. And 
if they are, if God annexes delight to some actions, 
with an apparent design to induce us to act so and 



ON NATURAL LAWS. 19 

so, then he not only dispenses happiness and mise- 
ry, but also rewards and punishes actions. If, for 
example, the pain which ice feel upon doing what 
tends to the destruction of our bodies, suppose up- 
on too near approaches to fire, or upon wounding 
ourselves, be appointed by the Author of Nature 
to prevent our doing what thus tends to our des- 
truction; this is ALTOGETHER AS MUCH AN INSTANCE 

of his punishing our actions, and consequently 
of our being under his government, as declaring, 
by a voice from Heaven, that, if we acted so, he 
would inflict such pain upon us, and inflict it wheth- 
er it be greater or less. ' * 

If, then, the reader keep in view that God is the 
creator ; that Nature, in the general sense, means 
the world which He has made ; and, in a more li- 
mited sense, the particular constitution which he 
has bestowed on any special object, of which we 
may be treating, and that a Law of Nature means 
the established mode in which that constitution 
acts, and the obligation thereby imposed on intelli- 
gent beings to attend to it, he will be in no dan- 
ger of misunderstanding my meaning. 

Every natural object has received a definite con- 
stitution, in virtue of which it acts in a particular 
way. There must, therefore, be as many natural 
laws, as there are distinct modes of action of sub- 
stances and beings, viewed by themselves. But 
substances and beings stand in certain relations 

* Butler's Works, vol. i. p. 44. Similar observations by other 
authors will be found in the Appendix, No. I. 



! 



20 ON NATURAL LAWS. 

to each other, and modify each other's action in 
an established and definite manner, according to 
that relationship ; altitude, for instance, modifies 
the effect of heat upon water. There must, there- 
fore, be also as many laws of nature, as there are 
relations between different substances and beings. 

It is impossible, in the present state of know- 
ledge, to elucidate all these laws : countless years 
may elapse before they shall be discovered j but we 
may investigate some of the most familiar and strik- 
ing of them. Those that most readily present 
themselves bear reference to the great classes into 
which the objects around us may be divided, 
namely, Physical, Organic, and Intelligent. I 
shall therefore confine myself to the physical laws, 
the organic laws, and the laws which characterise- 
intelligent beings. 

1st. The Physical Laws embrace all the pheno- 
mena of mere matter ; a heavy body, for instance, 
when unsupported, falls to the ground with a cer- 
tain accelerating force, in proportion to the dis- 
tance which it falls, and its own density ; and this 
motion is said to take place according to the law 
of gravitation. An acid applied to a vegetable 
blue color, converts it into red, and this is said 
to take place according to a chemical law 7 . 

2dly. Organised substances and beings stand 
higher in the scale of creation, and have proper- 
ties peculiar to themselves. They act, and are 
acted upon, in conformity with their constitution, 
and are therefore said to be subject to a peculiar 



ON NATURAL LAWS. 21 

set of laws, termed the Organic. The distinguish- 
ing characteristic of this class of objects, is, that 
the individuals of them derive their existence from 
other organised beings, are nourished by food, and 
go through a regular process of growth and decay. 
Vegetables and Animals are the two great subdi- 
visions of it. The organic laws are different from 
the merely physical. A stone, for example, does 
not spring from a parent stone ; it does not take 
food from its parent, the earth, or air : it does not 
increase in vigour for a time, and then decay and 
suffer dissolution, all which processes characterize 
vegetables and animals. The organic laws are 
superior to the merely physical. For example, a 
living man, or animal, may be placed in an oven, 
along with the carcass of a dead animal, and re- 
main exposed to a heat, which wiV. completely 
bake the dead flesh, and yet come out alive, and 
not seriously injured. The dead flesh is mere 
physical matter, and its decomposition by the heat 
instantly commences ; but the living animal is able, 
by its organic qualities, to counteract and resist to 
a certain extent, that influence. The expression 
Organic Laws, therefore, indicates that every phe- 
nomenon connected with the production, health, 
growth, decay, and death of vegetables and ani- 
mals, takes place with undeviating regularity, 
whenever circumstances are the same. Animals 
are the chief objects of my present observations. 

3dly. Intelligent beings stand still higher in the 
scale than merely organised matter, and embrace 



22 ON NATURAL LAWS. 

all animals that have distinct consciousness, from 
the lowest of the inferior creatures up to man. 
The great divisions of this class are into Intelli- 
gent and Animal — and into Intelligent and Moral 
creatures. The dog, horse, and elephant, for in- 
stance, belong to the first class, because they pos- 
sess some degree of intelligence, and certain ani- 
mal propensities, but no moral feelings ; man be- 
longs to the second, because he possesses all the 
three. These various faculties have received a 
definite constitution from the Creator, and stand 
in determinate relationship to external objects : for 
example, a healthy palate cannot feel wormwood 
sweet, nor sugar bitter : a healthy eye cannot see 
a rod partly plunged in water straight, because 
the water so modifies the rays of light, as to give 
to the stick the appearance of being crooked ; a 
healthy Benevolence cannot feel gratified with 
murder, nor a healthy Conscientiousness with 
fraud. As, therefore, the mental faculties have 
received a precise constitution, have been placed 
in fixed and definite relations to external objects, 
and act regularly, we speak of their acting accor- 
ding to rules or laws, and call these the Moral and 
Intellectual Laws. 

In short, the expression 6 laws of nature,' when 
properly used, signifies the rules of action impres- 
sed on objects and beings by their natural consti- 
tution. Thus, when we say, that by the physical 
law, a ship sinks when a plank starts from her side, 
we mean, that, by the constitution of the ship, and 



ON NATURAL LAWS. 23 

the water, and the relation subsisting between 
them, the ship sinks when the plank starts. 

Several important principles strike us very early 
in attending to the natural laws, viz. 1st. Their in- 
dependence of each other; 2dly. Obedience to each 
of them is attended with its own reward, and dis- 
obedience with its own punishment ; 3dly. They are 
universal, unbending, and invariable in their ope- 
ration ; 4thly. They are in harmony with the con- 
stitution of man. 

1. The independence of the natural laws may 
be illustrated thus ; — A ship floats because a part 
of it being immersed, displaces a weight of water 
equal to its whole weight, leaving the remaining 
part above the fluid. A ship, therefore, will float 
on the surface of the water as long as these physi- 
cal conditions are observed ; no matter although 
the men in it should infringe other natural laws ; 
as, for example, although they should rob, mur- 
der, blaspheme, and commit every species of de- 
bauchery ; and it will sink whenever the physical 
conditions are subverted, however strictly the crew 
and passengers may obey the other laws here ad- 
verted to. In like manner, a man who swallows 
poison, which destroys the stomach or intestines, 
will die, just because an organic law has been 
infringed, and because it is independent of others, 
although the man should have taken the drug by 
mistake, or been the most pious and charitable in- 
dividual on earth. Or, thirdly, a man may cheat, 
lie, steal, tyrannise, and in short break a great va- 



24 ON NATURAL LAWS. 

riety of the moral laws, and nevertheless be fat and 
rubicund, if he sedulously observe the organic laws 
of temperance and exercise, which determine the 
condition of the body ; while, on the other hand, 
an individual who neglects these, may pine in dis- 
ease, and be racked with torturing pains, although 
at the very moment, he may be devoting his mind 
to the highest duties of humanity. 

2. Obedience to each law is attended with its 
own reward, and disobedience with its own pun- 
ishment. Thus the mariners who preserve their 
ship in accordance with the physical laws, reap the 
reward of sailing in safety ; and those who permit 
its departure from them, are punished by the ship 
sinking. Those who obey the moral law, enjoy the 
intense internal delights that spring from active mo- 
ral faculties ; they render themselves, moreover, ob- 
jects of affection and esteem to moral and intelli- 
gent beings, who, in consequence, confer on them 
many other gratifications. Those who disobey that 
law, are tormented with insatiable desires, which, 
from the nature of things, cannot be gratified ; they 
are punished by the perpetual craving of whatever 
portion of moral sentiment they possess, for higher 
enjoyments, which are never attained ; and they 
are objects of dislike and malevolence to other 
beings in the same condition as themselves, who 
inflict on them the evils dictated by their own 
provoked propensities. Those who obey the or- 
ganic laws, reap the reward of health and vigour 
of body, and buoyancy of mind ; those who break 



ON NATURAL LAWS. 25 

them are punished by sickness, feebleness, and 
languor. 

3. The natural laws are universal, invariable, 
and unbending. When the physical laws are sub- 
verted in China or Kamschatka, there is no instance 
of a ship floating there more than in England ; and, 
when they are observed, there is no instance of a 
vessel sinking in any one of these countries more 
than in another. There is no example of men, in 
any country, enjoying the mild and generous inter- 
nal joys, and the outward esteem and love that at- 
tend obedience to the moral law, while they give 
themselves up to the dominion of brutal propensi- 
ties. There is no example, in any latitude or lon- 
gitude, or in any age, of men who entered life with 
a constitution in perfect harmony with the organic 
laws, and who continued to obey these laws through- 
out, being, in consequence of this obedience, vi- 
sited with pain and disease ; and there are no in- 
stances of men who were born with constitutions 
at variance with the organic laws, and who lived 
in habitual disobedience to them, enjoying that 
sound health and vigour of body, that are the re- 
wards of obedience. 

4. The natural laws are in harmony with the 
whole constitution of man, the moral and intellec- 
tual powers being supreme. For example, if ships 
had sunk when they were in accordance with the 
physical law, this would have outraged the percep- 
tions of Causality, and offended Benevolence and 
Justice ; but as they float, the physical is, in this 

3 



26 ON NATURAL LAWS. 

instance, in harmony with the moral and intellec- 
tual law. If men who rioted in drunkenness and 
debauchery, had thereby established health and 
increased their happiness, this, again, would have 
been in discord with our intellectual and moral 
perceptions j but the opposite result is in harmony 
with them. 

It will be subsequently shewn, that our moral 
sentiments desire universal happiness. If the phy- 
sical and organic laws are constituted in harmony 
with them, it ought to follow that the natural laws, 
when obeyed, conduce to the happiness of moral 
and intelligent beings, who are called on to observe 
them; and that the evil consequences or punish- 
ments resulting from disobedience, are calculated 
to enforce stricter attention and obedience to the 
laws, that these beings may escape from the mis- 
eries of infringement, and return to the advantages 
of observance. For example, according to this 
view, when a ship sinks, in consequence of a plank 
starting, the punishment ought to impress upon the 
spectators the absolute necessity of having every 
plank secure and strong, before going to sea again, 
a condition indispensable to their safety. When 
sickness and pain follow a debauch, they serve to 
urge a more scrupulous obedience to the organic 
laws, that the individual may escape death, which 
is the inevitable consequence of too great and con- 
tinued disobedience to these laws, and enjoy health, 
which is the reward of opposite conduct. When 
discontent, irritation, hatred, and other mental an- 



ON NATURAL LAWS. 27 

noyances, arise out of infringement of the moral 
law, this punishment is calculated to induce the 
offender to return to obedience, that he may enjoy 
the rewards attached to it. 

When the transgression of any natural law is 
excessive, and so great that return to obedience is 
impossible, one purpose of death, which then en- 
sues, may be to deliver the individual from a con- 
tinuation of the punishment which could then do 
him no good. Thus, when, from infringement 
of a physical law, a ship sinks at sea, and leaves 
men immersed in water, without the possibility of 
reaching land, their continued existence in that 
state would be one of cruel and protracted suffer- 
ing; and it is advantageous to them to have their 
mortal life extinguished at once by drowning, 
thereby withdrawing them from further agony. In 
like manner, if a man in the vigour of life, so far 
infringe any organic law as to destroy the function 
of a vital organ, the heart, for instance, or the 
lungs, or the brain, it is better for him to have his 
life cut short, and his pain put an end to, than to 
have it protracted under all the tortures of an or- 
ganic existence without lungs, without a heart, 
or without a brain, if such a state were possible, 
which, for this wise reason, it is not. 

I do not intend to predicate anything concern- 
ing the perfectibility of man by obedience to the 
laws of nature. The system of sublunary crea- 
tion, so far as we perceive it, does not appear to 
be one of optimism ; yet benevolent design, in its 



28 ON NATURAL LAWS. 

constitution, is undeniable. Paley say$, ' Nothing 
remains but the first supposition, that God, when 
he created the human species, wished them hap- 
piness, and made for them the provisions which he 
has made, with that view and for that purpose. 
The same argument may be proposed in different 
terms : Contrivance proves design ; and the predom- 
inant tendency of the contrivance indicates the 
disposition of the designer. The world abounds 
with contrivances; and ALL THE CONTRIVAN- 
CES which we are acquainted with, are directed 
to beneficial purposes? Paley's Mor. Phil. Edinb. 
1816, p. 51. My object is to discover as many 
of the contrivances of the Creator, for effecting 
beneficial purposes, as possible ; and to point out 
in what manner, by accommodating our conduct 
tothese contrivances, we may lessen our misery 
and increase our happiness. 

I do not intend to teach that the natural laws, 
discernable by unassisted reason, are sufficient for 
the salvation of man without revelation. Human 
interests regard this world and the next. To en- 
joy this world, I humbly maintain, that man must 
discover and obey the natural laws; for example, 
to ensure health to offspring, the parents must be 
healthy, and the children afterbirth must be treat- 
ed in conformity to the organic laws; to fit them 
for usefulness in society, they must be instructed 
in their own constitution, — in that of external ob- 
jects and beings, and taught to act rationally in re- 
ference to these. Revelation does not communi- 



ON NATURAL LAWS. 29 

cate complete or scientific information concerning 
the best mode of pursuing even our legitimate 
temporal interests, probably because faculties 
have been given to man to discover arts, sciences, 
and the natural laws, and to adapt his conduct to 
them. The physical, moral, and intellectual na- 
ture of man, is itself open to investigation by our 
natural faculties; and numerous practical duties 
resulting from our constitution are discoverable, 
which are not treated of in detail in the inspired 
volume ; the mode of preserving health, for exam- 
ple ; of pursuing with success a temporal calling; 
of discovering the qualities of men with whom we 
mean to associate our interests ; and many others. 
My object, I repeat, is to investigate the natural 
constitution of the human body and mind, their 
relations to external objects and beings in this 
world, and the courses of action that, in conse- 
quence, appear to be beneficial or hurtful. 

Man's spiritual interests belong to the sphere of 
revelation; and I distinctly declare, that I do not 
teach, that obedience to the natural laws is suffi- 
cient for salvation in a future state. Revelation 
prescribes certain requisites for salvation, which 
may be divided into two classes; first, faith or 
belief; and, secondly, the performance of certain 
practical duties, not as meritorious of salvation, 
but as the native result of that faith, and the ne- 
cessary evidence of its sincerity. The natural 
laws form no guide as to faith ; but so far as I can 
perceive, their dictates and those of revelation 
3* 



30 ON NATURAL LAWS. 

coincide in all matters relating to practical duties 
in temporal affairs. 

It may be asked, whether mere knowledge of 
the natural laws is sufficient to insure observance 
of them? Certainly not. Mere knowledge of mu- 
sic does not enable one to play on an instrument, 
nor of anatomy to perform skilfully a surgical op- 
eration. Practical training, and the aid of every 
motive that can interest the feelings, are necessa- 
ry to lead individuals to obey the natural laws. 
Religion, in particular, may furnish motives high- 
ly conducive to this obedience. But, it must nev- 
er be forgotten, that although mere knowledge is 
not all-sufficient, it is a primary and indispensable 
requisite to regular observance; and that it is as 
impossible, effectually and systematically to obey 
the natural laws without knowing them, as it is to 
infringe them with impunity, although from igno- 
rance of their existence. Some persons are of 
opinion that Christianity alone suffices, not only 
for man's salvation, which I do not dispute, but 
for his guidance in all practical virtues, without 
knowledge of, or obedience to, the laws of nature; 
but from this notion I respectfully dissent. It ap- 
pears to me, that one reason why vice and misery, 
in this world, do not diminish in proportion to 
preaching, is, because the natural laws are too 
much overlooked, and very rarely considered as 
having any relation to practical conduct. 

Connected with this subject, it is proper to state, 
that I do not maintain that the world is arranged 



ON NATURAL LAWS. 31 

on the principle of Benevolence exclusively: my 
idea is, that it is constituted in harmony with the 
whole faculties of man; the moral sentiments and 
intellect holding the supremacy. What is meant 
by creation being constituted in harmony with the 
whole faculties of man, is this. Suppose that we 
should see two men holding a third in a chair, and 
a fourth drawing a tooth from his head: — While 
we contemplated this bare act, and knew nothing 
of the intention with which it was done, and of 
the consequences that would follow, we would set 
it down as purely cruel ; and say, that, although 
it might be in harmony with Destructiveness, it 
could not be so with Benevolence. But, when we 
were told that the individual in the chair was a 
patient, the operator a dentist, the two men his 
assistants, and that the object of all the parties 
was to deliver the first from violent torture, we 
would then perceive that Destructiveness had been 
used as a means to accomplish a benevolent pur- 
pose; or, in other words, that it had acted under 
the supremacy of moral sentiment and intellect, 
and we would approve of the transaction. If the 
world were created on the principle of Benevo- 
lence exclusively, no doubt the toothach could 
not exist ; but, as pain does exist, Destructiveness 
has been given to place man in harmony with it, 
when used for a benevolent end. 

To apply this illustration to the works of prov- 
idence ; I humbly suggest it as probable, that if 
we knew thoroughly the design and whole conse- 



32 ON NATURAL LAWS. 

quences of such institutions of the Creatpr, as are 
attended with pain, death, and disease, for exam- 
ple, we should find that Destructiveness was used 
as a means, under the guidance of Benevolence 
and Justice, to arrive at an end in harmony with 
the moral sentiments and intellect ; in short, that 
no institution of the Creator has pure evil, or des- 
tructiveness alone, for its object. In judging of 
the divine institutions, the moral sentiments and 
intellect embrace the results of them to the race, 
while the propensities regard only the individual; 
and as the former are the higher powers, their dic- 
tates are of supreme authority in such questions. 
Further, tYhen the operations of these institutions 
are sufficiently understood, they will be acknowl- 
edged to be beneficial for the individual also ; 
although, when partially viewed, this may not at 
first appear to be the case. 

The opposite of this doctrine, viz. that there 
are institutions of the Creator which have suffer- 
ing for their exclusive object, is clearly untena- 
ble ; for this would be ascribing malevolence to 
the Deity. As, however the existence of pain is 
undeniable, it is equally impossible to believe that 
the world is arranged on the principle of Benevo- 
lence exclusively ; and, with great submission, the 
view now presented reconciles the existence of 
Pain with that of Benevolence in a natural way, 
and the harmony of it with the constitution of the 
human mind, renders its soundness probable. 



33 



CHAPTER II. 

OF THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN, AND ITS RELATIONS 
TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 

Let us, then, consider the Constitution of Man ? 
and the natural laws to which he is subjected, and 
endeavour to discover how far the external world 
is arranged with wisdom and benevolence, in re- 
gard to him. Bishop Butler, in the Preface to 
his Sermons, says, ' It is from considering the re- 
lations which the several appetites and passions 
in the inward frame have to each other, and, 
above all, the supremacy of reflection or con- 
science, that we get the idea of the system or con- 
stitution of human nature. And from the idea 
itself, it will as fully appear, that this our nature, 
i. e. constitution, is adapted to virtue, as from the 
idea of a watch it appears, that its nature, i. e. 
constitution or system, is adapted to measure 
time. 

' Mankind has various instincts and principles 
of action, as brute creatures have ; some leading 
most directly and immediately to the good of the 
community, and some most directly to private 
good. 

' Man has several, which brutes have not ; par- 
ticularly reflection or conscience, an approbation 
of some principles or actions, and disapprobation 
of others. 5 



34 CONSTITUTION OF MAN 

1 Brutes obey their instincts or principles of 
action, according to certain rules ; suppose, the 
constitution of their body, and the objects around 
them.' 

' The generality of mankind also obey their in- 
stincts and principles, all of them, those propen- 
sities we call good, as well as the bad, according 
to the same rules, namely, the constitution of 
their body, and the external circumstances which 
they are in. 5 

4 Brutes, in acting according to the rules be- 
fore mentioned, their bodily constitution and cir- 
cumstances, act suitably to their whole nature. 

6 Mankind also, in acting thus, would act suit- 
ably to their whole nature, if no more were to be 
said of man's nature than what has been now said ; 
if that, as it is a true, were also a complete, ade- 
quate account of our nature. 

' But that is not a complete account of man's 
nature. Somewhat further must be brought in 
to give us an adequate notion of it ; namely, that 
one of those principles of action, conscience, or 
reflection, compared with the rest, as they all 
stand together in the nature of man, plainly bears 
upon it marks of authority over all the rest, and 
claims the absolute direction of them all, to allow 
or forbid their gratification; — a disapprobation 
on reflection being in itself a principle manifestly 
superior to a mere propension. And the conclu- 
sion is, that to allow no more to this superior prin- 
ciple or part of our nature, than to other parts ; 



AND ITS RELATIONS. 35 

to let it govern and guide only occasionally, in 
common with the rest, as its turn happens to come, 
from the temper and circumstances one happens 
to be in ; this is not to act conformably to the con- 
stitution of man : neither can any human crea- 
ture be said to act conformably to his constitution 
of nature, unless he allows to that superior prin- 
ciple the absolute authority which is due to it. 5 — 
Butler's Works, vol. ii. Preface. The follow- 
ing Essay is founded on the principles here sug- 
gested. 

SECT. I. MAN CONSIDERED AS A PHYSICAL BEING. 

The human body consist of bones, muscles, 
nerves, bloodvessels, besides organs of nutrition, 
of respiration, and of thought. These parts are 
all composed of physical elements, and, to a cer- 
tain extent, are subjected to the physical laws of 
creation. By the law of gravitation, the body 
falls to the ground when unsupported, and is liable 
to be injured, like any frangible substance ; by a 
chemical law, excessive cold freezes, and exces- 
sive heat dissipates, its fluids ; and life, in either 
case, is extinguished. 

To discover the real effect of the physical laws 
of nature on human happiness, we would require 
to understand, 1st. The physical laws themselves, 
as revealed by mathematics, natural philosophy, 
natural history, and their subordinate branches ; 
2dly. The anatomical and physiological constitu- 



36 MAN CONSIDERED AS 

tion of the human body ) 3dly. The adaptation of 
the former to the latter. These expositions are 
necessary, to ascertain the extent to which it is 
possible for man to place himself in accordance 
with the physical laws, so as to reap advantage 
from them, and also to determine how far the suf- 
ferings which he endures, fall to be ascribed to 
their inevitable operation, and how far to his ig- 
norance and infringement of them. To treat of 
these views in detail, would requre separate vol- 
umes, and I therefore confine myself to a single 
instance as an illustration of the mode in which 
the investigation might be conducted. 

By the law of gravitation, heavy bodies always 
tend towards the centre of the earth. Some of 
the advantages of this law are, that objects re- 
main at rest when properly supported, so that 
men know where to find them when they are want- 
ed for use ; walls, when erected of sufficient 
thickness and perfectly perpendicular, stand firm 
and secure, so as to constitute edifices for the ac- 
commodation of man. Water descends from the 
clouds, from the roofs of houses, from streets and 
fields, and precipitates itself down the channels 
of rivers, turns mill-wheels in its course, and sets 
in motion the most stupendous and useful machine- 
ry ; ships move steadily through the water with 
part of their hulls immersed, and part rising mod- 
erately above it, their masts and sails towering in 
the air to catch the inconstant breeze ; and men 
are enabled to descend from heights, to penetrate 



A PHYSICAL BEING. 37 

by mines below the surface of the ground, and by 
diving-bells beneath that of the ocean. 

To place man in harmony with this law, the 
Creator has bestowed on him bones, muscles, and 
nerves, constructed on the most perfect principles 
of mechanical science, which enable him to pre- 
serve his equilibrium, and to adapt his movements 
to its influence ; also intellectual faculties, calcu- 
lated to perceive the existence of the law, its 
modes of operation, the relation between it and 
himself, the beneficial consequences of observing 
this relation, and the painful results of infringing it. 

Finally, when a person falls over a precipice, 
and is maimed or killed; when a ship springs a 
leak and sinks ; or when a reservoir pond breaks 
down its banks and ravages a valley, we ought to 
trace the evil back to its cause, which will uni- 
formly resolve itself into infringement of a natu- 
ral law, and then endeavour to discover whether 
this infringement could or could not have been 
prevented, by a due exercise of the physical and 
mental powers bestowed by the Creator on man. 

By pursuing this course, we shall arrive at 
sound conclusions concerning the adaptation of 
the human mind and body to the physical laws of 
creation. The subject, as I have said, is too ex- 
tensive to be here prosecuted in detail, and I am 
incompetent, besides, to do it justice; but the 
more minutely any one inquires, the more firm will 
be his conviction, that in these relations admira- 
ble provision is made by the Creator for human 
4 



38 MAN CONSIDERED AS 

happiness, and that the evils which ^trise from 
neglect of them, are attributable, to a great ex- 
tent, to man's not adequately applying his powers 
to the promotion of his own enjoyment. 

SECT. II. MAN CONSIDERED AS AN ORGANISED BEING, 

Man is an organised being, and subject to the 
organic laws. An organised being is one which 
derives its existence from a previously existing or- 
ganised being, which subsists on food, which 
grows, attains maturity, decays, and dies. The 
first law, then, that must be obeyed, to render an 
organised being perfect in its kind, is that the 
germ, from which it springs, shall be complete in 
all its parts, and sound in its whole constitution. 
If we sow an acorn, in which some vital part has 
been destroyed altogether, the seedling plant, and 
the full grown oak, if it ever attain to maturity, 
will be deficient in the lineaments which were 
wanting in the embryo root; if we sow an acorn 
entire in its parts, but only half ripened or damag- 
ed, by damp or other causes, in its whole texture, 
the seedling oak will be feeble, and will probably 
die early. A similar law holds in regard to man. 
A second organic law is, that the organised being, 
the moment it is ushered into life, and so long as 
it continues to live,*must be supplied with food, 
light, air, and other physical aliment requisite for 
its support, in due quantity, and of the kind best 
suited to its particular constitution. Obedience 



AN ORGANISED BEING. 39 

to this law is rewarded with a vigorous and healthy 
developement of its powers ; and in animals, with 
a pleasing consciousness of existence and apti- 
tude for the performance of their natural func- 
tions ; disobedience to it is punished with feeble- 
ness, stinted growth, general imperfection, or 
death. A third organic law, applicable to man, 
is, that he shall duly exercise his organs, this con- 
dition being an indispensable requisite to health. 
The reward of obedience to this law, is enjoyment 
in the very act of exercising the functions, pleas- 
ing consciousness of existence, and the acquisi- 
tion of numberless gratifications and advantages, of 
which labor, or the exercise of pur powers, is the 
procuring means : disobedience is punished with 
derangement and sluggishness of the functions, 
with general uneasiness or positive pain, and with 
the denial of gratification to numerous faculties. 

Directing our attention to the constitution of 
the human body, we perceive that the power of 
reproduction is bestowed on man, and also intel- 
lect, to enable him to discover and obey the con- 
ditions necessary for the transmission of a healthy 
organic frame to his descendants; that digestive 
organs are given to him for his nutrition, and in- 
numerable vegetable, and animal productions are 
placed around him, in wise relationship to these 
organs. 

Without attempting to expound minutely the 
organic structure of man, or to trace in detail its 
adaptation to his external condition, I shall offer 



40 MAN CONSIDERED AS 

some observations in support of the proposition, 
that the due exercise of the osseous, muscular, 
and nervous systems, under the guidance of intel- 
lect and moral sentiment, and in accordance with 
the physical laws, contributes to human enjoy- 
ment; and, that neglect of this exercise, or an 
abuse of it, by carrying it to excess, or by con- 
ducting it in opposition to the moral, intellectual, 
or physical laws, is punished with pain. 

The earth is endowed with the capability of 
producing an ample supply for all our w r ants, pro- 
vided we expend muscular and nervous energy in 
its cultivation ; while, in most climates, it refuses 
to produce if we withhold this labor and leave it 
waste. Further, the Creator has presented us 
with timber, metal, wool, and countless materials, 
which, by means of muscular power, may be con- 
verted into clothing, and all the luxuries of life. 
The fertility of the earth, and the demands of the 
body for food and clothing, are so benevolently 
adapted to each other, that, with rational restraint 
on population, a few hours' labor each day from 
every individual capable of labor, would suffice 
to furnish all with every commodity that could 
really add to enjoyment. 

In the tropical regions of the globe, for exam- 
ple, where a high atmospheric temperature dimin- 
ishes the quantum of muscular energy, the fertili- 
ty and productiveness of the soil are increased in 
a like proportion, so that less labor suffices. Less 
labor, also, is required to provide habitations and 



AN ORGANISED BEING. 41 

raiment. In the colder latitudes, muscular ener- 
gy is greatly increased, and there much higher 
demands are made upon it. The earth is more 
sterile, the rude winds require firmer fabrics to 
resist their violence, and the piercing frosts re- 
quire a thicker covering to the body. 

Farther, the food afforded by the soil in each 
climate is admirably adapted to the maintenance 
of the organic constitution in health, and to the 
supply of the muscular energy requisite for the 
particular wants of the situation. In the Arctic 
Regions no farinaceous food ripens; but on put- 
ting the question to Dr Richardson, how he, ac- 
customed to the bread and vegetables of the tem- 
perate regions, was able to endure the pure ani- 
mal diet, which formed his only support on his 
expedition to the shores of the Polar Sea along 
with Captain Franklin, he replied, that the effects 
of the extreme dry cold to which they were ex- 
posed, living, as they did, constantly in the open 
air, was to produce a desire for the most stimulat- 
ing food they could obtain ; that bread in such a 
climate was not only not desired, put compara- 
tively impotent, as an article of diet; that pure 
animal food, and the fatter the better, was the on- 
ly sustenance that maintained the tone of the 
corporeal system, but that when it was abundant 
(and the quantity required was much greater than 
in milder latitudes), a delightful vigour and buoy- 
ancy of mind and body were enjoyed, that ren- 
dered life highly agreeable. Now, in beautiful 
4* 



42 MAN CONSIDERED A§ 

harmony with these wants of the human frames? 
these regions abound, during summer, in count- 
less herds of deer, in rabbits, partridges, ducks, in 
short, in game of every description, and fish ; and 
the flesh of these dried, constitutes delicious food 
in winter, when the earth is wrapped in one wide- 
spread covering of snow. 

In Scotland, the climate is moist and cold, the 
greater part of the surface is mountainous, but 
admirably adapted for raising sheep and cattle, 
while a certain portion consists of fertile plains, 
fitted for farinaceous food. If the same law holds 
in this country, the diet of the people should con- 
sist of animal and farinaceous food, the former 
decidedly predominating. As we proceed to 
warmer latitudes, we find the soil and temperature 
of France less congenial to sheep and cattle, but 
more favorable to corn and wine; and the French- 
man inherits a native elasticity of body and mind, 
that enables him to flourish in vigour on less of 
animal food, than would be requisite to preserve 
the Scottish Highlander in a like gay and alert 
condition, in the recesses of his mountains. The 
plains of Hindostan are too hot for the sheep and 
ox, but produce rice and vegetable spices in pro- 
digious abundance, and the native is healthy, 
vigorous and active, when supplied with rice and 
curry, and becomes sick, when obliged to live up- 
on animal diet. He, also, is supplied with less 
muscular energy from this species of food, and 



AN ORGANISED BEING. 43 

his soil and climate require far less laborious ex- 
ertion than those of Britain, Germany, or Russia. 
So far, then, the external world appears to be 
wisely and benevolently adapted to the organic 
system of man, that is, to his nutrition, and to 
the developement and exercise of his corporeal or- 
gans; and the natural law appears to be, that all, 
if they desire to enjoy the pleasures attending 
sound and vigorous muscular and nervous systems, 
must expend in labor the energy which the Crea- 
tor has infused into these organs. A wide choice 
is left open to man, as to the mode in which he 
shall exercise his nervous and muscular systems. 
The laborer, for example, digs the ground, and 
the squire engages in the chase. The penalty of 
neglecting this law is debility, bodily and mental, 
lassitude, imperfect digestion, disturbed sleep, bad 
health, and, if carried to a certain length, death. 
The penalty for over-exerting these systems is ex- 
haustion, mental incapacity, the desire of strong 
artificial stimulants, such as ardent spirits, gener- 
al insensibility, and grossness of feeling and per- 
ception, with disease and shortened life. Society 
has not recognised this law, and in consequence, 
the higher orders despise labor, and suffer the 
first penalty; while the lower orders are oppress- 
ed with toil, and undergo the second. The pen- 
alties serve to provide motives for obedience to 
the law, and whenever it is recognised, and the 
consequences are discovered to be inevitable, men 
will no longer shun labor as painful and ignomi- 



44 MENTAL FACULTIES OF MAN. 

nious, but resort to it as a source of pleasure, as 
well as to avoid the pains inflicted on those who 
neglect it. 

SECT. III. MAN CONSIDERED AS AN ANIMAL MORAL 

AND INTELLECTUAL BEING. 

In the third place, man is an animal — moral — 
and intellectual being. To discover the adapta- 
tion of these parts of his nature to his external 
circumstances, we must first know what are his 
various animal, moral, and intellectual powers 
themselves. Phrenology gives us a view of them, 
drawn from observation; and as I have verified 
the inductions of that science, so as to satisfy my- 
self that it is the most complete and correct expo- 
sition of the Nature of Man which has yet been 
given, I adopt its classification of faculties as the 
basis of the subsequent observations. According 
to Phrenology, then, the Human Faculties are the 
following : 

Order I. FEELINGS. 

Genus I. PROPENSITIES— Common to Man with the 
Lower Animals. 

1. Amativeness ; Produces sexual love. 

2. Philoprogenitiveivess. — Uses: Love of offspring. — Abuses : 

Pampering and spoiling children. 

3. Concentrativeness. — Uses : It gi</es the desire for perman- 

ence in place, and for permanence of emotions and ideas in the 
mind. — Abuses : Aversion to move abroad ; morbid dwelling on 
internal emotions and ideas, to the neglect of external impres- 
sions. 



MENTAL FACULTIES OF MAN, 45 

4. Abhesiveness. — Uses: Attachment; friendship, and society 

result from it. — Abuses : Clanship for improper objects, attach- 
ment to worthless individuals. It is generally large in women. 

5. Combativeness. — Uses : Courage to meet danger, to overcome 

difficulties, and to resist attacks. — Abuses : Lore of contention , 
and tendency to provoke and assault. 

6. Destructiveness. — Uses: Desire to destroy noxious objects, 

and to kill for food. It is very discernible in carnivorous animals. 
— Abuses : Cruelty, desire to torment, tendency to passion, rage, 
harshness and severity in speech and writing. 

7. Constructiveness. — Uses : Desire to build and construct 

works of art. — Abuses : Construction of engines to injure or de- 
stroy, and fabrication of objects to deceive mankind. 

8. Acquisitiveness. — Uses: Desire to possess, and tendency to 

accumulate, articles of utility, to provide against want. — Abuses : 
Inordinate desire for property ; selfishness ; avarice. 

9. Secretiveness. — Uses : Tendency to restrain within the mind 

the various emotions and ideas that involuntarily present them- 
selves, until the judgment has approved of giving them utter- 
ance ; it also aids the artist and the actor in giving expression ; 
and is an ingredient in prudence. — Abuses: Cunning, deceit* 
duplicity, lying, and, joined with Acquisitiveness, theft.. 

Genus II. SENTIMENTS. 
I. Sentiments common to Man with the Lower Animals. 

10. Self-Esteem. — Uses: Self-interest, love of independence* 
personal dignity. — Abuses : Pride, disdain, overweening conceit, 
excessive selfishness, love of dominion. 

11. Love of Approbation. — Uses : Desire of the esteem of others* 
love of praise, desire of fame or glory. — Abuses: Vanity, ambi- 
tion, thirst for praise independent of praiseworthiness* 

12. Cautiousness. — Uses: It gives origin to the sentiment of 
. fear, the desire to shun danger, to circumspection ; and it is an 

ingredient in prudence. — Abuses : Excessive timidity, poltroon- 
ery, unfounded apprehensions, despondency, melancholy. 

13. Benevolence. — Uses: Desire of the happiness of others, uni- 
versal charity, mildness of disposition, and a lively sympathy 
with the enjoyment of all animated beings. — Abuses : Profusion, 
injurious indulgence of the appetites and fancies of others, pro- 
digality, facility of temper. 



46 MENTAL FACULTIF.S OF MAN. 

II. Sentiments proper to Man. 

14. Veneration. — Uses : Tendency to worship, adore, venerate, 
or respect whatever is great and good ; gives origin to the relig- 
ious sentiment. — Abuses : Senseless respect for unworthy ob- 
jects consecrated by time or situation, love of antiquated cus- 
toms, abject subserviency to persons in authority, superstition. 

15. Hope. — Uses: Tendency to expect and to look forward to the 
future with confidence and reliance ; it cherishes faith. — Abuses: 
Credulity, absurd expectations of felicity not founded on reason. 

16. Ideality. — Uses: Love of the beautiful and splendid, the de- 
sire of excellence, poetic feeling. — Abuses : Extravagance and 
absurd enthusiasm, preference of the showy and glaring to the 
solid and useful, a tendency to dwell in the regions of fancy, and 
to neglect the duties of life. 

Wonder. — Uses: The desire of novelty, admiration of the new, 
the unexpected, the grand, and extraordinary. — Abuses : Love 
of the marvellous, astonishment. — Note. Veneration, Hope, and 
Wonder, combined, give the tendency to religion ; their abuses 
produce superstition and belief in false miracles, in prodigies, 
magic, ghosts, and all supernatural absurdities. 

17. Consciousness. — Uses: It gives origin to the sentiment of 
justice, or respect for the rights of others, openness to conviction, 
the love of truth. — Abuses: Scrupulous adherence to noxious 
principles when ignorantly embraced, excessive refinement in 
the views of duty and obligation, excess in remorse, or self- 
condemnation. : 

18. Firmness. — Uses: Determination, perseverance, steadiness of 
purpose. — Abuses: Stubbornness, infatuation, tenacity in evil. 

Order II. INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 

Genus I. EXTERNAL SENSES. 



Feeling or Touch. 

Taste. 

Smell. 

Hearing. 

Light. 



Uses: To bring man into communication 
with external objects, and to enable him 
to enjoy them. — Abuses: Excessive in- 
dulgence in the pleasures arising from 
the senses, to the extent of impairing the 
organs and debilitating the mind, 



MENTAL FACULTIES OF MAN. 47 

Genus II. INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES— which perceive 
existence. 

19. Individuality— Takes cognizance of existence and simple 
facts. 

Eventuality — Takes cognizance of occurrences and events. 

20. Form — Renders man observant of form. 

21. Size — Renders man observant of dimensions, and aids perspective. 

22. Weight — Communicates the perception of momentum, weight, 

resistance, and aids equilibrium. 

23. Coloring — Gives perception of colors. 

Genus III. INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES— which per- 
ceive the relations of external objects. 

24. Locality — Gives the idea of space and relative position. 

25. Order — Communicates the love of physical arrangement. 

26. Time — Gives rise to the perception of duration. 

27. Number — Gives a turn for arithmetic and algebra. 

28. Tune. — The sense of Melody arises from it. 

29. Language — Gives a facility in acquiring a knowledge of arbi- 
trary signs to express thoughts — a felicity in the use of them — 
and a power of inventing them. 

Genus IV. REFLECTING FACULTIES— which compare, 
judge, and discriminate. 

30. Comparison — Gives the power of discovering analogies and 

resemblances. 

31. Causality. — To trace the dependencies of phenomena, and the 
relation of cause and effect. 

32. Wit — Gives the feeling and the ludicrous. 

33. Imitation. — To copy the manners, gestures, and actions Of 

others, and nature generally. 

The first glance at these faculties suffices to 
shew, that they are not all equal in excellence and 
elevation ; that some are common to man with the 
lower animals ; and others peculiar to man. In 
comparing the human mind, therefore, with its 
external condition, it becomes an object of prima- 



48 . MENTAL FACULTIES OF M^N. 

ry importance to discover the relative subordina- 
tion of these different orders of powers. If the 
Animal Faculties are naturally or necessarily 
supreme, then external nature, if it be wisely con- 
stituted, may be expected to bear direct reference, 
in its arrangements, to this supremacy. If the 
Moral and Intellectual Faculties hold the ascen- 
dancy, then the constitution of external nature 
may be expected to be in harmony with them, 
when predominant. Let us attend to these ques- 
tions. 

SECT. IV. THE FACULTIES OF MAN COMPARED WITH 

EACH OTHEH J OR THE SUPREMACY OF THE MORAL 
SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 

According to the phrenological theory of human 
nature, the faculties are divided into Propensities 
common to man with the lower animals, Senti- 
ments common to man, with the lower animals, 
Sentiments proper to man, and Intellect. Every 
faculty stands in a definite relation to certain ex- 
ternal objects ; — when it is internally active it 
desires these objects ; — when they are presented 
to it they excite it to activity, and delight it with 
agreeable sensations. Human happiness and mis- 
ery are resolvable into the gratification or denial 
of gratification of one or more of our active fac- 
ulties, before described, of the external senses, 
and the feelings connected with our bodily frame. 
The faculties, in themselves, are mere instincts ; 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 49 

the moral sentiments and intellect are higher 
instincts than the animal propensities. Every 
faculty is good in itself, but all are liable to abuse. 
Their manifestations are right only when directed 
by enlightened intellect and moral sentiment. In 
maintaining the supremacy of the moral senti- 
ments and intellect, I do not consider them suffi- 
cient to direct conduct by their mere instinctive 
suggestions. To fit them to discharge this im- 
portant duty, they must be illuminated by know- 
ledge of science and of moral and religious duty ; 
but whenever their dictates, thus enlightened, 
oppose the solicitations of the propensities, the 
latter must yield, otherwise, by the constitution of 
external nature, evil will inevitably ensue. This 
is what I mean by nature being constituted in 
harmony with the supremacy of the moral senti- 
ments and intellect. Let us consider the faculties 
themselves. 

The first three propensities, Amativeness, Philo- 
progenitiveness, and Adhesiveness, or the group 
of the domestic affections, desire a conjugal part- 
ner, offspring, and friends; the obtaining of these 
affords them delight. — the removal of them occa- 
sions pain. But to render an individual happy, 
the whole faculties must be gratified harmonious- 
ly, or at least the gratification of one or more 
must not offend any of the others. For example, 
suppose the group of the domestic affections to be 
highly interested in an individual, and strongly to 
desire to form an alliance with him, but that the 
5 



50 SUPREMACY OF THE 

person so loved is improvident and immoral, and 
altogether an object which the faculties of Self- 
esteem, Love of Approbation, Benevolence, Vene- 
ration, Conscientiousness, and Intellect, if left 
dispassionately to survey his qualities, could not 
approve of; then, if an alliance be formed with 
him, under the ungovernable impulses of the form- 
er faculties, bitter days of repentance must neces- 
sarily follow, when these begin to languish, and 
the latter faculties receive offence from his quali- 
ties. If, on the other hand, the domestic affec- 
tions are guided by intellect to an object pleasing 
to the latter powers, these themselves will be 
gratified, they will double the delights afforded by 
the former faculties, and render the enjoyment 
permanent. 

The great distinction between the animal facul- 
ties and the powers proper to man, is, that the 
object of the former is the preservation of the in- 
dividual himself, or his family ; while the latter 
have the welfare of others, and our duties to God, 
as their ends. Even the domestic affections, 
amiable and respectable as they undoubtedly are 
when combined with the moral feelings, have self 
as their object. The love of children, springing 
from Philoprogenitiveness, when acting alone, is 
the same in kind as that of the miser for his gold ; 
an intense interest in the object, for the sake of 
the gratification it affords to his own mind, with- 
out regard for the object on its own account. 
This truth is recognised by Sir Walter Scott, 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 51 

He says, ' Elspat's ardent, though selfish affection 
for her son, incapable of being qualified by a re- 
gard for the true interests of the unfortunate object 
of her attachment, resembled the instinctive fond- 
ness of the animal race for their offspring ; and, 
diving little farther into futurity than one of the 
inferior creatures, she only felt that to be separated 
from Hamish, was to die.' * 

In man, this faculty generally acts along with 
Benevolence, and a disinterested desire of the 
happiness of the child mingles along with, and 
elevates the mere instinct of, Philoprogenitive- 
ness ; but the sources of these two affections are 
different, their degrees vary in different persons, 
and their ends also are dissimilar. 

The same observation applies to the affection 
proceeding from Adhesiveness. When this facul- 
ty acts alone, it desires, for its own satisfaction, a 
friend to love ; but, if Benevolence do not act 
along with it, it cares nothing for the happiness 
of that friend, except in so far as his welfare may 
be necessary to its own gratification. The horse 
feels melancholy when his companion is removed ; 
but the feeling appears to be one of uneasiness at 
the absence of an object which gratified his Adhe- 
siveness. His companion may have been led to a 
richer pasture, and introduced to more agreeable 
society ; yet this does not assuage the distress 
suffered by him at his removal ; his tranquillity, in 
short, is restored only by time causing the activity 

* Chronicles of Canongate, vol. i. p. 281. 



52 SUPREMACY OF THE 

of Adhesiveness to subside, or by the substitution 
of another object on which it may exert itself. 
In human nature, the effect of the faculty, when 
acting singly, is the same ; and this accounts for 
the fact of the almost total indifference of many 
persons who were really attached, by Adhesive- 
ness, to each other, when one falls into misfor- 
tune, and becomes a disagreeable object to the 
Self-esteem and Love of Approbation of the other. 
Suppose two persons, elevated in rank, and pos- 
sessed of affluence, to have each Adhesiveness, 
Self-esteem, and Love of Approbation large, with 
Benevolence and Conscientiousness moderate, it 
is obvious that, while both are in prosperity, they 
may really like each other's society, and feel a 
reciprocal attachment, because there will be mu- 
tual sympathy in their Adhesiveness, and the Self- 
esteem and Love of Approbation of each will be 
gratified by the rank and circumstances of his 
friend ; but imagine one of them to fall into mis- 
fortune, and to cease to be an object gratifying to 
Self-esteem and Love of Approbation ; suppose 
that he becomes a poor friend instead of a rich 
and influential one, the harmony between their 
selfish faculties will be broken, and then Adhe- 
siveness in the one who remains rich will transfer 
its affection to another individual w T ho may gratify 
it, and also supply agreeable sensations to Self- 
esteem and Love of Approbation, — to a genteel 
friend, in short, who will look well in the eye of 
the world. 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 53 

Much of this conduct occurs in society, and the 
whining complaint is very ancient, that the storms 
of adversity disperse friends just as the winter 
winds strip leaves from the forest that gaily adorn- 
ed it in the sunshine of summer; and many moral 
sentences are pointed, and episodes finely turned, 
on the selfishness and corruption of poor human 
nature. But such friendships were attachments 
founded on the lower feelings, which, by their 
constitution, are selfish, and the desertion com- 
plained of is the fair and legitimate result of the 
principles on which both parties acted during the 
gay hours of prosperity. If we look at the head 
of Sheridan, we shall perceive large Adhesive- 
ness, Self-esteem, and Love of Approbation, with 
deficient reflecting organs, and moderate Consci- 
entiousness. He has large Individuality, Compar- 
ison, Secretiveness, and Imitation, which gave 
him talents for observation and display. When 
these earned him a brilliant reputation, he was 
surrounded by friends, and he himself probably 
felt attachment in return. But his deficient mo- 
rality prevented him from loving his friends with 
a true, disinterested, and honest regard; he abus- 
ed their kindness, and, as he sunk into poverty 
and wretchedness, and ceased to be an honor to 
them, or to excite their Love of Approbation, they 
almost all deserted him. But the whole connex- 
ion was founded on selfish principles; Sheriban 
honored them, and they flattered Sheridan; and 
the abandonment was the natural consequence of 
5* 



54 SUPREMACY OF THE v 

the cessation of gratification to their selfish feel- 
ings. I shall by-and-by point out the sources of 
a loftier and a purer friendship, and its effects. 

To proceed with the propensities : Combative- 
ness and Destructiveness also are in their nature 
purely selfish. If aggression is committed against 
us, Combativeness draws the sword and repels the 
attack : Destructiveness inflicts vengeance for the 
offence ; both feelings are obviously the very 
opposite of benevolent. I do not say, that, in 
themselves, they are despicable or sinful ; on the 
contrary, they are necessary, and, when legiti- 
mately employed, highly useful; but still self is 
the object of their supreme regard. 

The next organ is Acquisitiveness; and self is 
eminently its object. It desires blindly to possess, 
is pleased with accumulating, and suffers great 
uneasiness in being deprived of its objects. It 
is highly useful, like all the other faculties, for 
even Benevolence cannot give away until Acquisi- 
tiveness have acquired. There are friendships, 
particularly among mercantile men, founded on 
Adhesiveness and Acquisitiveness, just as in fash- 
ionable life they are founded on Adhesiveness and 
Love of Approbation. Two individuals fall into 
a course of dealing, by which each reaps profit by 
transactions with the other: this leads to intimacy, 
and Adhesiveness probably mingles its influence, 
and produces a feeling of actual attachment. The 
moment, however, that the Acquisitiveness of the 
one suffers the least inroad from that of the other, 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 55 

and their interests clash, they are apt, if no higher 
principle unite them, to become bitter enemies-. It 
is probable that, while these fashionable and com- 
mercial friendships last, the parties may profess 
great reciprocal esteem and regard, and that, when 
a rupture takes place, the one who is depressed, 
or disobliged, may recall these expressions and 
charge them as hypocritical ; but they really were 
not so : each probably felt from Adhesiveness and 
gratified Love of Approbation something which 
he colored over, and perhaps believed to be dis- 
interested friendship ; but if each would honestly 
probe his own conscience, he would be obliged 
to acknowledge that the whole basis of the con- 
nexion was selfish; and hence, that the result 
is just what every man ought to expect, who 
places his reliance for happiness chiefly on the 
lower propensities. 

Secretiveness is also selfish in its nature; for it 
suppresses feelings that might injure us with other 
individuals, and desires to find out secrets that 
may enable its. possessor to guard self against hos- 
tile plots or designs. In itself it does not desire, 
in any respect, the benefit of others. 

Self-esteem is, in its very essence and name, 
selfish; it is the love of ourselves, and the esteem 
of ourselves par excellence. 

Love of Approbation, although many think 
otherwise, is also in itself a purely selfish feel- 
ing. Its real desire is applause to ourselves, to 
be esteemed ourselves, and if it prompt us to do 



56 SUPREMACY OF THE •> 

services, or to say agreeable things to others, it 
is not from love of them, but purely for the sake 
of obtaining self-gratification. 

Suppose, for example, we are acquainted with a 
person who has committed an error in some public 
duty, who has done or said something that the 
public disapprove of, and which we see to be 
really wrong, Benevolence and Conscientiousness 
would prompt us to lay before our friend the very 
head and front of his offending, and conjure him 
to forsake his error, and publicly make amends : — 
Love of Approbation, on the other hand, would 
either render us averse to speak to him on the 
subject, lest he should be offended, or prompt us 
to extenuate his fault, and represent it as either 
positively no error at all, or as extremely trivial. 
If we analyze the motive which prompts to this 
course, we shall find that it is not love of our 
friend, or consideration for his welfare, but fear 
lest, by our presenting to him disagreeable truths, 
he should feel offended at us, and deprive us of 
the gratification afforded to our Love of Appro- 
bation by his good opinion : in short, the motive 
is purely selfish. 

Another illustration occurs. A manufacturer 
in a country town, having acquired a considerable 
fortune by trade, applied part of it in building 
a princely mansion, which he furnished in the 
richest and most expensive style of fashion. He 
asked his customers, near and distant, to visit him 
when calling on business, and led them into a 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 57 

dining-room or drawing-room that absolutely daz- 
zled them with its magnificence. This excited 
their wonder and curiosity, which was precisely the 
effect he desired; he then led them over his whole 
apartments, and displayed before them his gran- 
deur and taste. In doing so, he imagined that he 
was conferring a high pleasure on them, and fill- 
ing their minds with an intense admiration of his 
greatness; but the real effect was very different. 
The motive of his conduct was not love of them, 
or regard for their happiness or welfare ; it was 
not Benevolence to others that prompted him to 
build the palace ; it was not Veneration, nor was 
it Conscientiousness. The fabric sprung from 
Self-esteem and Love of Approbation combined, 
no doubt, with considerable Intellect and Ideality. 
In leading his humble brethren in trade through 
the princely halls, over the costly carpets, and 
amidst the gilding, burnishing, and rich array, 
that everywhere met their eyes, he exulted in the 
consciousness of his own importance, and asked 
for their admiration, not as an expression of re- 
spect for any real benefits conferred upon them, 
but as the much relished food of his own selfish 
vanity. 

Let us attend, in the next place, to the effect of 
this display on those to whom it was addressed. 
To gain their esteem or affection, it was neces- 
sary to manifest towards them real Benevolence, 
real regard, and impartial justice ; in short, to 
cause another individual to love us, we must make 



58 SUPREMACY OF THE 

v 

him the object of the moral sentiments, which 
have his good and happiness for their end. Here, 
however, these were not the inspiring motives of 
the conduct, and the want of them would be in- 
stinctively felt. The customers, who possessed 
the least shrewdness, would ascribe the whole ex- 
hibition to the vanity of the owner, and they 
would either pity or hate him ; if their own moral 
sentiments predominated, they would pity ; if their 
Self-esteem and Love of Approbation were para- 
mount, these would be offended at his assumed su- 
periority, and would rouse Destructiveness to hate 
him. It would only be the silliest and the vainest 
who would be at all gratified ; and their satisfac- 
tion would arise from the feeling, that they could 
now return to their own circle, and boast how 
great a friend they had, and in how grand a style 
they had been entertained, — this display being a 
direct gratification of their own Self-esteem and 
Love of Approbation, by their identifying them- 
selves with him. Even this pleasure could be 
reaped only where the admirer was so humble in 
rank as to entertain no idea of rivalship, and so 
limited in intellect and sentiments as not to per- 
ceive the worthlessness of the qualities by which 
he was captivated. 

In like manner, when persons, even of more 
sense than the manufacturer here alluded to, give 
entertainments to their friends, they sometimes fail 
in their object from the same cause. They wish 
to shew off themselves as their leading motive. 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 59 

much more than to confer real happiness upon 
their acquaintances ; and, by the irreversible law 
of human nature, this must fail in exciting good- 
will and pleasure in the minds of those to whom 
it is addressed, because it disagreeably affects 
their Self-esteem and Love of Approbation. In 
short, to be really successful in gratifying our 
friends, we must keep our own selfish faculties in 
due subordination, and pour out copious streams 
of real kindness from the higher sentiments, ani- 
mated and elevated by intellect; and all who have 
experienced the heart-felt joy and satisfaction 
attending an entertainment conducted on this 
principle, will never quarrel with the homeliness 
of the fare, or feel uneasy about the absence of 
fashion in the service. 

Cautiousness is the next faculty, and is a senti- 
ment instituted to protect self from danger, and 
has clearly a regard to individual safety as its pri- 
mary object. 

This terminates the list of the feelings common 
to man with the lower animals,* and which, as 
we have seen, have self preservation as their lead- 
ing objects. They are given for the protection 
and advantage of our animal nature, and, when 

* Benevolence is stated in the works on Phrenology as common 
to man with the lower animals ; hut in them it appears to produce 
rather passive meekness and good nature, than actual desire for each 
other's happiness. In the human race, this last is its proper function ; 
and, viewed in this light, I here treat of it as exclusively a human 
faculty. 



60 SUPREMACY OF THE 

v 

duly regulated, are highly useful, and also re- 
spectable, viewed with reference to that end; but 
they are sources of innumerable evils when allow- 
ed to usurp the ascendancy over the moral facul- 
ties, and to become the leading springs of our 
social intercourse. 

I proceed to notice the moral sentiments which 
constitute the proper human faculties, and to point 
out their objects and relations. 

Benevolence has no reference to self. It desires 
purely and disinterestedly the happiness of its ob- 
jects ; it loves for the sake of the person beloved ; 
if he be well, and the sunbeams of prosperity 
shine warmly around him, it exults and delights 
in his felicity. It desires a diffusion of joy, and 
renders the feet swift and the arm strong in the 
cause of charity and love. 

Veneration also has no reference to self. It 
looks up with a pure and elevated emotion to the 
being to whom it is directed, whether God or our 
fellow-men, and delights in the contemplation of 
their venerable and admirable qualities. It de- 
sires to find out excellence, and to dwell and feed 
upon it, and renders self lowly, humble, and sub- 
missive. 

Hope spreads its gay wing in the boundless re- 
gions of futurity. It desires good, and expects it 
to come ; ' it incites us to aim at a good which 
we can live without;' its influence is soft, sooth- 
ing, and happy ; but self is not its direct or par- 
ticular object. 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 61 

Ideality delights in perfection from the pure 
pleasure of contemplating it. So far as it is con- 
cerned, the picture, the statue, the landscape, or 
the mansion, on which it abides with intensest 
rapture, will be as pleasing, although the property 
of another, as if all its own. It is a spring that is 
touched by the beautiful wherever it exists ; and 
hence its means of enjoyment are as unbounded 
as the universe is extensive. 

Wonder seeks the new and the striking, and is 
delighted with change ; but there is no desire of 
appropriation to self in its longings. 

Conscientiousness stands in the midway between 
self and other individuals. It is a regulator of our 
animal feelings, and points out the limit which 
they must not pass. It desires to do to another 
as we would have another to do to us, and thus is 
a guardian of the welfare of our fellow men, while 
it sanctions and supports our personal feelings 
within the bounds of a due moderation. It is a 
noble feeling; and the mere consciousness of its 
being bestowed upon us, ought to bring home to 
our minds an intense conviction that the Author 
of the universe is at once wise and just. 

Intellect is universal in its application. It may 
become the handmaid of any of the faculties ; it 
may devise a plan to murder or to bless, to steal 
or to bestow, to rear up or to destroy; but, as its 
proper use is to observe the different objects of 
creation, to mark their relations, and direct the 
propensities and sentiments to their proper and 
6 



62 SUPREMACY OF THE 

legitimate enjoyments, it has a boundless sphere 
of activity, and, when properly exercised and 
applied, is a source of high and inexhaustible 
delight. 

Keeping in view the great difference now point- 
ed out between the animal and properly human 
faculties, the reader will perceive that three con- 
sequences follow from the constitution of these 
powers : First, All the faculties, when in excess, 
are insatiable, and, from the constitution of the 
world, never can be satisfied. They indeed may 
be soon satisfied on any particular occasion. 
Food will soon fill the stomach ; indulgence will 
speedily assuage Amativeness ; success in a specu- 
lation will render Acquisitiveness quiescent for 
the moment : a triumph will satisfy for the time 
Self-esteem and Love of Approbation ; a long 
concert will fatigue Tune ; and, too long a dis- 
course afflict Causality. But after repose they will 
all renew their solicitations. They must all there- 
fore be regulated; and, in particular, the lower 
propensities, from having self as their primary 
object, and being blind to consequences, do not 
set limits to their own indulgence; and hence lead 
to misery to the individual, and injury to society, 
when allowed to exceed the limits prescribed by 
the superior sentiments and intellect. 

As this circumstance attending the propensities 
is of great practical importance, I shall make a 
few observations in elucidation of it. The births 
and lives of children depend upon circumstances, 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 63 

over which unenlightened men have but a limited 
control; and hence an individual, whose supreme 
happiness springs from the gratification of Philo- 
progenitiveness will, by the mere predominance of 
that propensity, be led to neglect or infringe the 
natural laws, on which the lives and welfare of 
children depend, and which can be observed only 
by active moral and intellectual faculties. Hence 
he will be in constant danger of anguish and dis- 
appointment, by the removal of his children, or by 
their undutiful conduct and immoral behaviour. 
Besides, Philoprogenitiveness, acting along with 
Self-esteem and Love of Approbation, would, in 
each parent, desire that his children should pos- 
sess the highest rank, the greatest wealth, and be 
distinguished for the most splendid talents. Now 
the highest, the greatest, and the most splendid 
of any qualities, necessarily imply the existence of 
inferior degrees, and are not attainable except by 
one. The animal faculties, therefore, must be re- 
strained in their desires, and directed to their ob- 
jects by the human facuhies, by the sentiments of 
Conscientiousness, Benevolence, Veneration, and 
Intellect, otherwise they will inevitably lead to 
disappointment. In like manner, Acquisitiveness 
desires wealth, and, as nature affords only a cer- 
tain number of quarters of grain annually, a cer- 
tain portion of cattle, of fruit, of flax, and other 
articles, from which food, clothing, and wealth, 
are manufactured ; and as this quantity, divided 
equally among all the members of a state, would 



64 SUPREMACY OF THE 

afford but a moderate portion to each, it is self- 
evident that, if all desire to acquire and possess 
a large amount, ninetynine out of the hundred 
must be disappointed. This disappointment, from 
the very constitution of nature, is inevitable to 
the greater number ; and when individuals form 
schemes of aggrandisement, originating from de- 
sires communicated by the animal faculties alone, 
they would do well to keep this law of nature in 
view. When we look around, w r e see how few 
make rich ; how few succed in accomplishing all 
their lofty anticipations for the advancement of 
their children ; how few attain the summit of am- 
bition, compared with the multitudes who fall 
short. Love of Approbation and Self-esteem, 
when unregulated, desire the highest station of 
ambition; but, as these faculties exist in all men, 
and only one can be greatest, they will prompt 
one man to defeat the gratification of another. 
All this arises, not from error and imperfection in 
the institutions of the Creator, but from blindness 
in men to their own nature, to the nature of 
external objects, and to the relations established 
between these ; in short, blindness to the princi- 
ples of the divine administration of the world. 

Secondly. The animal propensities being infe- 
rior in their nature to the human faculties, their 
gratifications, when not approved of by the latter, 
leave a painful feeling of discontent and dissatis- 
faction in the mind, occasioned by the secret dis- 
clamation of their excessive action by the higher 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 65 

feelings. Suppose, for example, a young person 
to set out in life, with the idea that the great ob- 
ject of existence is to acquire wealth, to rear and 
provide for a family, and to attain honor and dis- 
tinction among men ; all these desires spring from 
the propensities alone. Imagine him to rise early 
and sit up late, to put forth all the energies of a 
powerful mind in buying, selling, and making 
rich, and that he is successful ; it is obvious, that, 
in prompting to this course of action, Benevolence, 
Veneration, and Conscientiousness, had no share ; 
and that, in pursuing it, they have not received 
direct and intended gratification; they would have 
anxiously and wearily watched the animal facul- 
ties, longing for the hour when they were to say 
Enough; their whole occupation, in the mean 
time, being to restrain them from such gross ex- 
travagances as would have defeated their own 
ends. In the domestic circle, again, a spouse and 
children would gratify Philoprogenitiveness and 
Adhesiveness, and their advancement would please 
Self-esteem and Love of Approbation ; but here 
also the moral sentiments would act the part of 
mere spectators and sentinels to impose restraints ; 
they would receive no direct enjoyment, and would 
not be recognised as the fountain of the conduct. 
In the pursuit of honor, suppose an office of 
dignity and power, or high rank in society, the 
mainsprings of exertion would still be Self-esteem 
and Love of Approbation, and the moral senti- 
ments would be compelled to wait in tiresome 
6* 



66 SUPREMACY OF THE 

vacuity, without having their energies called di- 
rectly into play, so as to give them full scope in 
their legitimate sphere. 

Suppose, then, this individual to have reached 
the evening of life, and to look back on the pleas- 
ures and pains of his past existence, he must feel 
that there has been vanity and vexation of spirit, 
— the want of a satisfying portion ; and for this 
sufficient reason, that the highest of his faculties 
have been all along scarcely employed. In esti- 
mating, also, the real affection and esteem of man- 
kind which he has gained, he will find it to be 
small or great in exact proportion to the degree 
in which he has manifested, in his habitual con- 
duct, the lower or the higher faculties. If socie- 
ty has seen him selfish in his pursuit of wealth, 
selfish in his domestic affections, selfish in his am- 
bition ; although he may have gratified all these 
feelings without positive encroachment on the 
rights of others, they will still look coldly on him, 
they will feel no glow of affection towards him, 
no elevated respect, no sincere admiration ; he 
will see and feel this, and complain bitterly that 
all is vanity and vexation of spirit. But the fault 
has been his own; love, esteem, and sincere re- 
spect, arise, by the Creator's laws, not from con- 
templating the manifestations of plodding, selfish 
faculties, but only from the display of Benevo- 
lence, Veneration, and Justice, as the motives and 
end of our conduct; and the individual supposed 
has reaped the natural and legitimate produce of 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 67 

the soil which he cultivated, and eaten the fruit 
which he has reared. 

Thirdly. The higher feelings, when directed 
by enlightened intellect, have a boundless scope 
for gratification ; their least indulgence is delight- 
ful, and their highest activity is bliss ; they cause 
no repentance, leave no void, but render life a 
scene at once of peaceful tranquillity and sustain- 
ed felicity ; and, what is of much importance, 
conduct proceeding from their dictates carries in 
its train the highest gratification to the animal 
propensities themselves, of which the latter are 
susceptible. At the same time, it must be observ- 
ed, that the sentiments err, and lead also to evil, 
when not regulated by enlightened intellect; that 
intellect in its turn must give due weight to the 
existence and desires of both the propensities and 
sentiments, as elements in the human constitution, 
before it can arrive at sound conclusions regard- 
ing conduct ; and that rational actions and true 
happiness flow from the gratification of all the 
faculties in harmony with each other; the senti- 
ments and intellect bearing the directing sway. 

This proposition may be shortly illustrated. 
Imagine an individual to commence life, with 
the thorough conviction that the higher sentiments 
are the superior powers, and that they ought to be 
the sources of his actions, the first effect would 
be to cause him to look habitually outward on 
other men and on his Creator, instead of looking 
inward on himself as the object of his highest and 



68 SUPREMACY OF THE 

v 

chief regard. Benevolence would shed on his 
mind the conviction, that there are other human 
beings as dear to the Creator as he, as much enti- 
tled to enjoyment as he, and that his duty is to 
seek no gratification to himself which is to injure 
them ; but, on the contrary, to act so as to confer 
on them, by his daily exertions, all the services in 
his power. Veneration would give a strong feel- 
ing of reliance on the power and wisdom of God, 
that such conduct would conduce to the highest 
gratification of all his faculties ; it would add 
also an habitual respect for his fellow men, as be- 
ings deserving his regard, and to whose reasona- 
ble wishes he was bound to yield a willing and sin- 
cere obedience. Lastly, Conscientiousness would 
prompt him to apply the scales of rigid justice to 
his animal desires, and to curb and restrain each 
so as to prevent the slightest infraction on what is 
due to his fellow men. 

Let us trace, then, the operation of these prin- 
ciples in ordinary life. Suppose a friendship 
formed by such an individual : his first and fun- 
damental principle is Benevolence, which inspires 
with a sincere, pure, and disinterested regard for 
his friend ; he desires his welfare for his friend's 
sake ; next Veneration reinforces this love by the 
secret and grateful acknowledgment which it 
makes to Heaven for the joys conferred upon the 
mind by this pure emotion, and also by the habi- 
tual deference which it inspires towards our friend 
himself, rendering us ready to yield where com- 






MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 69 

pliance is becoming, and curbing our selfish feel- 
ings when these would intrude by interested or 
arrogant pretensions on his enjoyment ; and third- 
ly, Conscientiousness, ever on the watch, pro- 
claims the duty of making no unjust demands on 
the Benevolence of our friend, but of limiting our 
whole intercourse with him on an interchange of 
kindness, good offices, and reciprocal affection. 
Intellect, acting along with these principles, 
would point out, as an indispensable requisite to 
such an attachment, that the friend himself should 
be so far under the influence of the sentiments, as 
to be able, in some degree, to meet them ; for, if 
he were immoral, selfish, vainly ambitious, or, in 
short, under the habitual influence of the propen- 
sities, the sentiments could not love and respect 
hhn j thvy might pity him as unfortunate, but 
love him they could not, because this is impossi- 
ble by the very laws of their constitution. 

Let us now attend to the degree in which such 
a friendship would gratify the lower propensities. 
In the first place, how would Adhesiveness exult 
and rejoice in such an attachment ! It would be 
overpowered with delight, because, if the intellect 
were convinced that the friend habitually acknow- 
ledged the supremacy of the higher sentiments, 
Adhesiveness might pour forth all its ardour, and 
cling to its object with the closest bonds of affec- 
tion. The friend would not encroach on us for 
evil, because his Benevolence and Justice would 
oppose this ; he would not lay aside restraint, and 
break through the bonds of affection by undue fa- 



70 SUPREMACY OF THE 

miliarity, because Veneration would forbid this ; he 
would not injure us in our name, person, or repu- 
tation, because Conscientiousness, Veneration, and 
Benevolence, all combined, would prevent such 
conduct. Here then Adhesiveness, freed from the 
fear of evil, from the fear of deceit, from the fear 
of dishonor, because a friend who should habitu- 
ally act thus, could not possibly fall into dishon- 
or, would be at liberty to take its deepest draught 
of affectionate attachment ; it would receive a gra- 
tification which it is impossible it could attain, 
while acting' in combination with the purely self- 
ish faculties. What delight, too, would such a 
friendship afford to Self-esteem and Love of Ap- 
probation ! There would be an internal approval 
£>f ourselves, that would legitimately gratify Self- 
esteem, because it would arise from a survey ol 
pure motives, and just and benevolent actions. 
Love of Approbation also, would be gratified in 
the highest degree; for every act of affection, 
every expression of esteem, from such a friend, 
would be so purified by Benevolence, Veneration, 
and Conscientiousness, that it would form the le- 
gitimate food on which Love of Approbation 
might feast and be satisfied ; it would fear no hol- 
lowness beneath, no tattling in absence, no secret 
smoothing over for the sake of mere effect, no en- 
vyings, and no jealousies. In short, friendship 
founded on the higher sentiments, as the ruling 
motives, would delight the mind with gladness 
and sunshine, and gratify all the faculties, animal, 
moral, and intellectual, in harmony with each other. 



MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 71 

By this illustration, the reader will understand 
more clearly what I mean by the harmony of the 
faculties. The fashionable and commercial friend- 
ships of which I spoke, gratified the propensities 
of Adhesiveness, Love of Approbation, Self-es- 
teem, and Acquisitiveness, but left out, as funda- 
mental principles, all the higher sentiments: — 
there was, therefore, a want of harmony in these 
instances, an absence of full satisfaction, an un- 
certainty and changeableness, which gave rise to 
only a mixed and imperfect enjoyment while the 
friendship lasted, and to a feeling of painful dis- 
appointment, and of vanity and vexation, when a 
rupture occurred. The error, in such cases, con- 
sists in founding attachment on the lower facul- 
ties, seeing they, by themselves, are not calculat- 
ed to form a stable basis of affection, instead of 
building it on them and the higher sentiments, 
which afford a foundation for real, lasting, and 
satisfactory friendship. In complaining of the 
vanity and vexation of attachments springing 
from the lower faculties exclusively, we are like 
men who should try to build a pyramid on its 
smaller end, and then, lament the hardness of 
their fate, and speak of the unkindness of Provi- 
dence, when it fell. A similar analysis of all oth- 
er pleasures founded on the animal propensities 
chiefly, would give similar results. In short, hap- 
piness must be viewed by men as connected in- 
separably with the exercise of the three great 
classes of faculties, the moral sentiments and in- 



72 FACULTIES OF MAN 

tellect exercising the directing and controlling 
sway, before it can be permanently attained, 

SECT. V. THE FACULTIES OF MAN COMPARED WITH 

EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 

Having considered man as a. physical being, and 
briefly adverted to the adaptation of his constitu- 
tion to the physical laws of creation; having 
viewed him as an organised being, and traced the 
relations of his organic structure to his external 
circumstances; having taken a rapid survey of his 
faculties, as an animal, moral, and intellectual 
being, — with their uses and the forms of their 
abuse, — and having contrasted these faculties with 
each other, and discovered the supremacy of the 
moral sentiments and intellect, I proceed to com- 
pare his faculties with external objects, in order to 
discover what provision has been made for their 
gratification. 

1. Amativeness is a feeling obviously necessary to the continu- 

ance of the species ; and one which, properly regulated, is not 
offensive to reason ; — opposite sexes exist to provide for its 
gratification.* 

2. Philoprogenitiveness is given, — and offspring exist. 

3. Cokcejvtrativeness is conferred, — and the other faculties are 

its objects. 

4. Adhesiveness is given, — and country and friends exist. 

5. Combativeness is bestowed, — and physical and moral obstacles 

exist, requiring courage to meet and subdue them. 

* The nature and sphere of activity of the phrenological faculties 
is explained at length in the ' System of Phrenology,' to which I 
beg to refer. Here I can only indicate general ideas. 



COMPARED WITH EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 73 

6. Destructiveness is given, — and man is constituted with a 
carnivorous stomach, and animals to be killed and eaten exist. 
Besides, the whole combinations of creation are in a state of 
decay and renovation. In the animal kingdom almost every 
species of creatures is the prey of some other ; and the faculty 
of Destructiveness places the human mind in harmony with this 
order of creation. Destruction makes way for renovation, and the 
act of renovation furnishes occasion for the activity of our powers ; 
and activity is pleasure. That destruction is a natural institution 
is unquestionable. Not only has nature taught the spider to 
construct a web for the purpose of ensnaring flies, that it may 
devour them, and constituted beasts of prey with carnivorous 
teeth, but she has formed even plants, such as the Drosera, to 
catch and kill flies, and use them for food. Destructiveness 
serves also to give weight to indignation, a most important 
defensive as well as vindicatory purpose. It is a check upon 
undue encroachment, and tends to constrain mankind to pay 
regard to the rights and feelings of each other. When properly 
regulated, it is an able assistant to justice. 

7. Constructiveness is given, — and materials for constructing 
artificial habitations, raiment, ships, and various other fabrics 
that add to the enjoyment of life, have been provided to give 
it scope. 

8. Acquisitiveness is bestowed, — and property exists capable 
of being collected, preserved, and applied to use. 

9. Secretiveness is given, — and our faculties possess internal 
activity requiring to be restrained, until fit occasions and legiti- 
mate objects present themselves for their gratification ; which 
restraint is rendered not only possible but agreeable, by the 
propensity in question. While we suppress and confine one 
feeling within the limits of our own consciousness, we exercise 
and gratify another in the very act of doing so. 

10. Self-Esteem is given, — and we have an individual existence 
and individual interests, as its objects. 

11. Love of Approbation is bestowed, — and we are surrounded 
by our fellow men, whose good opinion is the object of its desire. 

12. Cautiousness is given, and it is admirably adapted to the 
nature of the external world. The human body is combustible, 
is liable to be destroyed by violence, to suffer injury from 
extreme wet and winds, &c. ; and it is necessary for us to be 
habitually watchful to avoid these sources of calamity. Accord- 

7 



74 FACULTIES OF MAN 

ingly, Cautiousness is bestowed on us as an ever watchful senti- 
nel, constantly whispering, « Take care.' There is ample scope 
for the legitimate and pleasurable exercise of all our faculties, 
without running into these evils, provided we know enough, 
and are watchful enough ; and, therefore, Cautiousness is not 
overwhelmed with inevitable terrors. It serves merely as a 
warder to excite us to beware of sudden and unexpected danger; 
it keeps the other faculties at their post, by furnishing a stimulus 
to them to observe and trace consequences, that safety may be 
insured ; and, when these other faculties do their duty in proper 
form, the impulses of Cautiousness are not painful, but the 
reverse : they communicate a feeling of internal security and 
satisfaction, expressed by the motto Semper paratus ; and hence 
this faculty appears equally benevolent in its design, as the 
others which we have contemplated. 

Here, then, we perceive a beautiful provision 
made for supporting the activity of, and affording 
legitimate gratification to, the lower propensities. 
These powers are conferred on us clearly to sup- 
port our animal nature, and to place us in harmony 
with the external objects of creation. So far from 
their being injurious or base in themselves, they 
possess the dignity of utility, and the estimable 
quality of being sources of high enjoyment, when 
legitimately indulged. The phrenologist, there- 
fore, would never seek to extirpate, nor to weaken 
them too much. He desires only to see their 
excesses controlled, and their exercise directed 
in accordance with the great institutions and de- 
signs of the Creator. 

The next class of faculties is that of the moral 
sentiments proper to man. These are the fol- 
lowing : 



J 



COMPARED WITH EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 75 

Benevolence is given, — and sentient and intelligent beings are 
created, whose happiness we are able to increase, thereby 
affording it its scope and delight. It is an error to imagine, 
that creatures in misery are the only objects of benevolence, 
and that it has no function but the excitement of pity. It is a 
wide-spreading fountain of generous feeling, desiring for its 
gratification not only the removal of pain, but the maintenance 
and augmentation of positive enjoyment ; and the happier it can 
render its objects, the more complete are its satisfaction and 
delight. Its exercise, like that of all the other faculties, is a 
source of great pleasure to the individual himself; and nothing 
can be conceived more admirably adapted for affording it scope, 
than the system of creation exhibited on earth. From the nature 
of the human faculties, each individual, without injuring him 
self, has it in his power to confer prodigious benefits, or, in 
other words, to pour forth the most copious streams of benevo- 
lence on others, by legitimately gratifying their Adhesiveness, 
Constructiveness, Acquisitiveness, Love of Approbation, Self- 
Esteem, Cautiousness, Veneration, Hope, Ideality, Conscien- 
tiousness, and their Knowing and Reflecting Faculties. 

Veneration. — The legitimate object of this faculty is the Divine 
Being ; and I assume here, that phrenology enables us to demon- 
strate the existence of God. The very essay in which I am now 
engaged, is an attempt at an exposition of some of his attributes, 
as manifested in this world. If we shall find contrivance, wis- 
dom, and benevolence in his works, unchangeableness, and no 
shadow of turning in his laws ; perfect harmony in each depart- 
ment of creation, and shall discover that the evils which afflict 
us are much less the direct objects of his arrangements than the 
consequences of ignorant neglect of institutions calculated for 
our enjoyment,— then we shall acknowledge in the Divine 
Being an object whom we may love with our whole soul, 
reverence with the deepest emotions of veneration, and on 
whom Hope and Conscientiousness may repose with a perfect 
and unhesitating reliance. The exercise of this sentiment is in, 
itself a great positive enjoyment, when the object is in harmony 
with all our other faculties. Further, its activity disposes us to 
yield obedience to the Creator's laws, the object of which is our 
own happiness ; and hence its exercise is in the highest degree 
provided for. Revelation unfolds the character and intentions 
of God where reason cannot penetrate, but its doctrines do not 
fall within the limits prescribed to this Essay. 



76 FACULTIES OF MAN 

v 

Hope is given, — and our understanding, by discovering the laws of 
nature, is enabled to penetrate into the future. This sentiment, 
then, is gratified by the absolute reliance which Causality war- 
rants us to place on the stability and wisdom of the divine 
arrangements; its legitimate exercise, in reference to this life, 
is to give us a vivifying faith, that while we suffer evil, we are 
undergoing a chastisement for having neglected the institutions 
of the Creator, the object of which punishment is to force us 
back into the right path. Revelation presents to Hope the 
certainty of a life to come ; and directs all our faculties in points 
of Faith. 

Ideality is bestowed, — and not only is external nature invested 
with the most exquisite loveliness, but a capacity for moral and 
intellectual refinement is given to us, by which we may rise in 
the scale of excellence, and at every step of our progress reap 
direct enjoyment from this sentiment. Its constant desire is for 
6 something more excellent still : ' in its own immediate impulses 
it is delightful, and external nature and our own faculties re- 
spond to its call. 

Wonder prompts to admiration, and desires something new. When 
we contemplate man endowed with intellect to discover a Deity 
and to comprehend his works, we cannot doubt of Wonder being 
provided with objects for its intensest exercise ; and when we 
view him placed in a world where all old things are constantly 
passing away, and a system of renovation is incessantly pro- 
ceeding, we see at once how vast a provision is made for the 
gratification of his desire of novelty, and how admirably it is 
calculated to impel his other faculties to activity. 

Conscientiousness exists, — and it is necessary to prove that all 
the divine institutions are founded in justice, to afford it full 
satisfaction. This is a point which many regard as involved in 
much obscurity : I shall endeavour in this Essay to lift the veil, 
for to me justice appears to flow through every divine institution. 

One difficulty, in regard to Conscientiousness, long appeared inex- 
plicable ; it was, how to reconcile with Benevolence the institu- 
tion by which this faculty visits us with remorse, after offences 
are actually committed, instead of arresting our hands by an 
irresistible veto before them, so as to save us from the perpetra- 
tion altogether. The problem is solved by the principle, That 
happiness consists in the activity of our faculties, and that the 
arrangement of punishment after the offence is far more con- 



COMPARED WITH EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 77 

ducive to activity than the opposite. For example ; if we desired 
to enjoy the highest gratification of Locality, Form, Coloring, 
Ideality, and Wonder, in exploring a new country, replete with 
the most exquisite beauties of scenery and most captivating 
natural productions, and if we found among these, precipices 
that gratified Ideality in the highest degree, but which endan- 
gered life when we advanced so near as to fall over them, and 
neglected the law of gravitation, whether would it be most 
bountiful for Providence to send an invisible attendant with us, 
who, whenever we were about to approach the brink, should 
interpose a barrier, and fairly cut short our advance, without 
requiring us to bestow one thought upon the subject, and without 
our knowing when to expect it and when not, — or to leave all 
open, but to confer on us, as he has done, eyes fitted to see 
the precipice, faculties to comprehend the law of gravitation, 
Cautiousness to make us fear the infringement of it, and then to 
leave us to enjoy the scene in perfect safety if we used these 
powers, but to fall over and suffer pain by bruises and death if 
we neglected to exercise them ? It is obvious that the latter 
arrangement would give far more scope to our various powers ; 
and if active faculties are the sources of pleasure, as will be 
shown in the next section, then it would contribute more to our 
enjoyment than the other. Now, Conscientiousness punishing 
after the fact, is analogous in the moral world, to this arrange- 
ment, in the physical. If Intellect, Benevolence, Veneration, 
and Conscientiousness, do their parts, they will give distinct 
intimations of disapprobation before commission of the offence, 
just as Cautiousness will give intimations of danger at sight of 
the cliff; but if these are disregarded, and we fall over the moral 
precipice, remorse follows as the punishment, just as pain is the 
chastisement for tumbling over the physical brink. The object 
of both institutions is to permit and encourage the most vigorous 
and unrestrained exercise of our faculties, in accordance with 
the physical, moral, and intellectual laws of nature, and to 
punish us only when we transgress these limits. 
Firmness is bestowed, — and the other faculties of the mind are its 
objects. It supports and maintains their activity, and gives 
determination to our purposes. 

The next Class of Faculties is the Intellectual. 

7* 



78 



FACULTIES OF MAN. 



The provisions in external nature for the grati- 
fication of the Senses of Hearing, Seeing, Smell- 
ing, Taste, and Touch, or Feeling, are so obvious 
that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon them. 

Individuality and Eventuality, or the powers of observing 
things that exist, and occurrences, are given ? and ' all the truths 
which Natural Philosophy teaches, depend upon matter offact 9 
and that is learned by observation and experiment, and never 
could be discovered by reasoning at all.' Here, then, is ample 
scope for the exercise of these powers. 

"and the sciences of Geometry, Arith- 
metic, Algebra, Geography, Chemis- 
try, Botany, Mineralogy, Zoology, 
A,natomy, and various others, exist, as 
► are bestowed, <j the fields of their exercise. The first 
three sciences are almost the entire 
products of these faculties; the others 
result chiefly from them, when appli- 
ed on external objects. 

fand these, aided by Constructiveness, 
Form, Locality, Ideality, and other facul- 
B ' ] ties, find scope in Painting, Sculpture, 
I Poetry, and the other fine arts. 

Language is given, — and our faculties inspire us with lively emo- 
tions and ideas, which we desire to communicate by its means 
to other individuals. 



Form, 

Size, 

Weight, 

Locality, 

Order, 

Number, 



Coloring, 
Time, 

Tune, 



'and these faculties, aided by Individuality, 
Form, Size, Weight, and others already 
enumerated, find ample gratification in 
Natural Philosophy, in Moral, Political, 
and Intellectual Science, and their different 
^branches. 

Imitation is bestowed, — and everywhere man is surrounded by 
beings and objects whose actions and appearances it may benefit 
him to copy. 



Comparison, | 
Causality, }• exists 
Wit, 



ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS. 79 



SECT. VI. ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, 

AND THE CONDITIONS REQUISITE FOR MAINTAIN- 
ING IT. 

Having now given a rapid sketch of the Con- 
stitution of Man, and its relations to external 
objects, we are prepared to inquire into the 
sources of his happiness, and the conditions re- 
quisite for maintaining it. 

The first and most obvious circumstance which 
attracts attention, is, that all enjoyment must 
necessarily arise from activity of the various sys- 
tems of which the human constitution is composed. 
The bones, muscles, nerves, digestive and respi- 
ratory organs, furnish pleasing sensations, directly 
or indirectly, when exercised in conformity with 
their nature ; and the external senses, and inter- 
nal faculties, when excited, supply the whole re- 
maining perceptions and emotions, which, when 
combined, constitute life and rational existence. 
If these were habitually buried in sleep, or con- 
stitutionally inactive, life, to all purposes of enjoy- 
ment, might as well be extinct ; for existence 
would be reduced to mere vegetation, without 
Consciousness. 

If, then, Wisdom and Benevolence have been 
employed in constituting Man, we may expect the 
arrangements of creation, in regard to him, to be 
calculated as a leading object to excite his various 
powers, corporeal and mental, to activity. This, 



80 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS 

accordingly, appears to me to be the case ; and 
the fact may be illustrated by a few examples. 
A certain portion of nervous and muscular energy 
is infused by nature into the human body every 
twentyfour hours, and it is delightful to expend 
this vigour. To provide for its expenditure, the 
stomach has been constituted so as to require 
regularly returning supplies of food, which can be 
obtained only by nervous and muscular exertion ; 
the body has been created destitute of covering, 
yet standing in need of protection from the ele- 
ments of Heaven; but this can be easily provided 
by moderate expenditure of corporeal strength. 
It is delightful to repair exhausted nervous and 
muscular energy by wholesome aliment; and the 
digestive organs have been so constituted, as to 
perform their functions by successive stages, and 
to afford us frequent opportunities of enjoying the 
pleasures of eating. In these arrangements, the 
design of supporting the various systems of the 
body in activity, for the enjoyment of the indi- 
vidual, is abundantly obvious. A late writer justly 
remarks, that ' a person of feeble texture and 
indolent habits has the bone smooth, thin, and 
light; but nature, solicitous for our safety, in a 
manner which we could not anticipate, combines 
with the powerful muscular frame a dense and 
perfect texture of bone, where every spine and 
tubercle is completely developed.' ' As the struc- 
ture of the parts is originally perfected by the 
action of the vessels, the function or operation of 



AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 81 

the part is made the stimulus to those vessels. 
The cuticle on the hand wears away like a glove ; 
but the pressure stimulates the living surface to 
force successive layers of skin under that which is 
wearing, or, as anatomists call it, desquamating ; 
by which they mean, that the cuticle does not 
change at once, but comes off in squamae or 
scales.' 

Directing our attention to the Mind, we discov- 
er that Individuality, and the other Perceptive 
Faculties, desire, as their means of enjoyment, to 
know existence, and to become acquainted with 
the qualities of external objects; while the Re- 
flecting Faculties desire to know their dependen- 
ces and relations. 'There is something,' says an 
eloquent writer, 'positively agreeable to all men, 
to all, at least, whose nature is not most grovel- 
ling and base, in gaining knowledge for its own 
sake. When you see anything for the first time, 
you at once derive some gratification from the 
sight being new ; your attention is awakened, and 
you desire to know more about it. If it is a piece 
of workmanship, as an instrument, a machine of 
any kind, you wish to know how it is made ; how 
it works ; and what use it is of. If it is an ani- 
mal, you desire to know where it comes from; 
how it lives ; what are its dispositions, and, gener- 
ally, its nature and habits. This desire is felt, 
too, without at all considering that the machine 
or the animal may ever be of the least use to 
yourself practically ; for, in all probability, you 



82 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS 



may never see them again, But you feel a curi- 
osity to learn all about them, because they are new 
and unknown to you. You, accordingly make 
inquiries ; you feel a gratification in getting an- 
swers to your questions, that is, in receiving in- 
formation, and in knowing more, — in being better 
informed than you were before. If you ever hap- 
pen again to see the same instrument or animal, 
you find it agreeable to recollect having seen it 
before, and to think that you know something 
about it. If you see another instrument or ani- 
mal, in some respects like, but differing in other 
particulars, you find it pleasing to compare them 
together, and to note in what they agree, and in 
what they differ. Now, all this kind of gratifica- 
tion is of a pure and disinterested nature, and has 
no reference to any of the common purposes of 
life; yet it is a pleasure — an enjoyment. You 
are nothing the richer for it ; you do not gratify 
your palate, or any other bodily appetite ; and 
yet it is so pleasing that you would give some- 
thing out of your pocket to obtain it, and would 
forego some bodily enjoyment for its sake. The 
pleasure derived from science is exactly of the 
like nature, or rather it is the very same. 5 * This 
is a correct and forcible exposition of the pleas- 
ures attending the active exercise of our intellec- 
tual faculties. 

Supposing the human faculties to have receiv- 
ed their present constitution, two arrangements 

* Objects, Advantages, and Pleasures of Science, page 1. 



AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 83 

may be fancied as instituted for the gratification of 
these powers. 1st. Infusing into them at birth 
intuitive knowledge of every object which they 
are fitted ever to comprehend ; or, 2dly. Constitut- 
ing them only as capacities for gaining knowledge 
by exercise and application, and surrounding them 
with objects bearing such relations towards them, 
that, when observed and attended to, they shall 
afford them high gratification; and, when unob- 
served and neglected, they shall occasion them 
uneasiness and pain ; and the question occurs, 
Which mode would be most conducive to enjoy- 
ment ? The general opinion will be in favor of 
the first ; but the second appears to me to be pre- 
ferable. If the first meal we had eaten had for- 
ever prevented the recurrence of hunger, it is ob- 
vious that all the pleasures of satisfying a healthy 
appetite would have been then at an end ; so that 
this apparent bounty would have greatly abridged 
our enjoyment. In like manner, if, our faculties 
being constituted as at present, intuitive knowl- 
edge had been communicated to us, so that, when 
an hour old, we should have been thoroughly ac- 
quainted with every object, quality, and relation 
that we could ever comprehend, all provision for 
the sustained activity of many of our faculties 
would have been done away with. When wealth 
is acquired, the miser's pleasure in it is diminish- 
ed. He grasps after more with increasing avidity. 
He is supposed irrational in doing so ; but he 
obeys the instinct of his nature. What he pos- 



84 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, 

sesses, no longer satisfies Acquisitiveness ; it is 
like food in the stomach, which gave pleasure in 
eating, and would give pain were it withdrawn, 
but which, when there, is attended with little posi- 
tive sensation. The Miser's pleasure arises from 
the active state of Acquisitiveness, and only the 
pursuit and obtaining of new treasures can main- 
tain this state. The same law is exemplified in 
the case of Love of Approbation. The gratifica- 
tion which it affords depends on its active state, 
and hence the necessity for new incense, and high- 
er mounting in the scale of ambition, is constant- 
ly experienced by its victims. Napoleon, in ex- 
ile, said, 'Let us live upon the past :' but he found 
this impossible ; his predominating desires origin- 
ated in Ambition and Self-esteem ; and the past 
did not stimulate these powers, or maintain them 
in constant activity. In like manner, no musician, 
artist, poet, or philosopher, would reckon himself 
happy, however extensive his attainments, if in- 
formed, Now you must stop, and live upon the 
past; and the reason is still the same. New 
ideas, and new emotions, best excite and main- 
tain in activity the faculties of the mind, and 
activity is essential to enjoyment. If these views 
be correct, the consequences of imbuing the mind 
with intuitive knowledge, would not have been un- 
questionably beneficial. The limits of our ac- 
quirements would have been reached ; our first 
step would have been our last; every object 
would have become old and familiar ; Hope would 



AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 85 

have had no object of expectation; Cautiousness 
no object of fear ; Wonder no gratification in 
novelty ; monotony, insipidity, and mental satiety, 
would apparently have been the lot of man. 

According to the view now advanced, creation, 
in its present form, is more wisely and benevo- 
lently adapted to our constitution than if intuitive 
instruction had been showered on the mind at 
birth. By the actual arrangement, numerous 
noble faculties are bestowed ; their objects are 
presented to them ; these objects are naturally 
endowed with qualities fitted to benefit and de- 
light us, when their uses and proper applications 
are discovered, and to injure and punish us for 
our ignorance, when their properties are misun- 
derstood or misapplied; but we are left to find 
out all these qualities and relations by the exer- 
cise of the faculties themselves. In this manner, 
provision is made for ceaseless activity of the 
mental powers, and this constitutes the greatest 
delight. Wheat, for instance, is produced by the 
earth, and admirably adapted to the nutrition of 
the body ; but it may be rendered more grateful 
to the organ of taste, more salubrious to the sto- 
mach, and more stimulating to the nervous and 
muscular systems, by being stripped of its exter- 
nal skin, ground into flour, and baked by fire into 
bread. Now, the Creator obviously pre-arranged 
all these relations, when he endowed wheat with 
its properties, and the human body with its quali- 
ties and functions. In withholding congenital 
8 



86 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, 

and intuitive knowledge of these qualities and 
mutual relations, but in bestowing faculties of 
Individuality, Form, Coloring, Weight, Construc- 
tiveness, &c. fitted to find them out; in rendering 
the exercise of these faculties agreeable ; and in 
leaving man, in this condition, to proceed for 
himself,— he appears to me to have conferred on 
him the highest boon. The earth produces also 
hemlock and foxglove ; and, by the organic law, 
those substances, if taken in certain moderate 
quantities, remove diseases ; if in excess, they 
occasion death : but, again, man's observing fac- 
ulties are fitted, when applied under the guid- 
ance of Cautiousness and Reflection, to make 
this discovery ; and he is left to make it in this 
way, or suffer the consequences of neglect. 

Further, water, when elevated in temperature, 
becomes steam ; and steam expands with prodi- 
gious power; this power, confined by muscular 
energy, exerted on metal, and directed by intel- 
lect, is capable of being converted into the steam- 
engine, the most efficient, yet humble servant of 
man. All this was clearly pre-arranged by the 
Creator ; and man's faculties were adapted to it ; 
but still we see him left to observe and discover 
the qualities and relations of water for himself. 
This duty, however, must be acknowledged as 
benevolently imposed, the moment we discover 
that the Creator has made the very exercise of 
the faculties pleasurable, and arranged external 
qualities and relations so beneficially, that, when 



AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAING IT. 87 

known, they carry a double reward in adding by 
their positive influence to human gratification. 

The Knowing Faculties, as we have seen, ob- 
serve the mere external qualities of bodies, and 
theifr simpler relations. The Reflecting Facul- 
ties observe relations also ; but of a higher order. 
The former, for example, discover that the soil is 
clay or gravel ; that it is tough or friable ; that it 
is wet, and that excess of water impedes vegeta- 
tion ; that in one season the crop is large, and in 
the next deficient. The reflecting faculties take 
cognizance of the causes of these phenomena. 
They discover the means by which wet soil may 
be rendered dry ; clay may be pulverized ; light 
soil may be invigorated ; and all of them made 
more productive ; also the relationship of partic- 
ular soils to particular kinds of grain. The in- 
habitants of a country who exert their knowing 
faculties in observing the qualities of their soil, 
their reflecting faculties in discovering its capa- 
bilities and relations to water, lime, manures, and 
the various species of grain, and who put forth 
their muscular and nervous energies in accor- 
dance with the dictates of these powers, receive 
a rich reward in a climate improved in salubrity, 
in an abundant supply of food, besides much 
positive enjoyment attending the exercise of the 
powers themselves. Those communities, on the 
other hand, who neglect to use their mental fac- 
ulties and muscular and nervous energies, are 
punished by ague, fever, rheumatism, and a va- 



88 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, 

riety of painful affections, arising from damp air ; 
are stinted in food ; and, in wet seasons, are 
brought to the very brink of starvation by total 
failure of their crops. This punishment is a ben- 
evolent admonition from the Creator, that they 
are neglecting a great duty, and omitting to en- 
joy a great pleasure ; and it will cease as soon as 
they have fairly redeemed the blessings lost by 
their negligence, and obeyed the laws of their 
being* 

The winds and waves appear, at first sight, to 
present insurmountable obstacles to man leaving 
the island or continent on which he happens to be 
born, and to his holding intercourse with his fel- 
lows in distant climes : But, by observing the rela- 
tions of water to timber, he is able to construct a 
ship ; by observing the influence of the wind on a 
physical body placed in a fluid medium, he dis- 
covers the use of sails ; and, finally, by the appli- 
cation of his faculties, he has found out the expan- 
sive quality of steam, and traced its relations until 
he has produced a machine that enables him almost 
to set the roaring tempest at defiance, and to sail 
straight to the stormy north, although its loudest 
and its fiercest blasts oppose. In these instances,, 
we perceive external nature admirably adapted ta 
support the mental faculties in habitual activity, 
and to reward us for the exercise of them. 

It is objected to this argument, that it involves 
an inconsistency. Ignorance, it is said, of the 
natural laws, is necessary to happiness, in order 



AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 89 

that the faculties may obtain exercise in discover- 
ing them; — nevertheless, happiness is imposssible 
till these laws shall have been discovered and 
obeyed. Here, then, it is said, ignorance is re- 
presented as at once essential to, and incompatible 
with enjoyment. The same objection, however, 
applies to the case of the bee. Gathering honey 
is necessary to its enjoyment ; yet it cannot sub- 
sist and be happy till it has gathered honey, and 
therefore that act is both essential to, and incom- 
patible with its gratification. The fallacy lies in 
losing sight of the natural constitution both of 
the bee and of man. While the bee possesses 
instinctive tendencies to roam about the fields 
and flowery meadows, and to exert its energies in 
labor, it is obviously beneficial to it to be furnish- 
ed with motives and opportunities for doing so ; 
and so it is with man to obtain scope for his bodily 
and mental powers. Now, gathering knowledge 
is to the mind of man what gathering honey is to 
the bee. Apparently with the view of effectually 
prompting the bee to seek this pleasure, honey is 
made essential to its subsistence. In like man- 
ner, and probably with a similar design, know- 
ledge is made indispensable to human enjoyment. 
Communicating intuitive knowledge of the natural 
Jaws to man, while his present constitution con- 
tinues, would be the exact parallel of gorging the 
bee with honey in midsummer, when its energies 
are at their height. When the bee has completed 
its store, winter benumbs its powers, which re- 
8* 



90 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS^ 

sume their vigor only when its stock is exhausted? 
and spring returns to afford them scope. No 
torpor resembling that of winter seals up the 
faculties of the human race ; but their ceaseless 
activity is amply provided for. First, The laws 
of nature, compared with the mind of any individ- 
ual, are of boundless extent, so that every one 
may learn something new to the end of the long- 
est life. Secondly, By the actual constitution of 
man, he must make use of his acquirements habit- 
ually, otherwise he will lose them. Thirdly, 
Every individual of the race is born in utter igno- 
rance, and starts from zero in the scale of know- 
ledge, so that he has the laws to learn for himself. 

These circumstances remove the apparent in- 
consistency. If man had possessed intuitive know- 
ledge of all nature, he could have had no scope 
for exercising his faculties in acquiring knowledge, 
in preserving it, or in communicating it. The 
infant would have been as wise as the most rever- 
ed sage, and forgetfulness would have been ne- 
cessarily excluded. 

Those who object to these views, imagine that 
after the human race has acquired knowledge of 
all the natural laws, if such a result be possible, 
they will be in the same condition as if they had 
been created with intuitive knowledge; but this 
does not follow. Although the race should ac- 
quire the knowledge supposed, it is not an in- 
evitable consequence that each individual will 
necessarily enjoy it all ; which, however, would 






AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 91 

follow from intuition. The entire soil of Britain 
belongs to the landed proprietors as a class ; but 
each does not possess it all; and hence every 
one has scope for adding to his territories ; with 
this advantage, however, in favor of knowledge, 
that the acquisitions of one do not impoverish 
another. Further, although the race should have 
learned all the natural laws, their children would 
not intuitively inherit their ideas, and hence the 
activity of every one, as he appears on the stage, 
would be provided for ; whereas, by intuition, 
every child would be as wise as his grandfather, 
and parental protection, filial piety, and all the 
delights that spring from difference in knowledge 
between youth and age, would be excluded. 3d, 
Using of acquirements, is, by the actual state of 
man, essential to the preservation as well as the 
enjoyment of them. By intuition all knowledge 
would be habitually present to the mind without 
effort or consideration. On the whole, therefore, 
it appears that man's nature being what it is, the 
arrangement by which he is endowed with powers 
to acquire knowledge, but left to find it out for 
himself, is both wise and benevolent. 

It has been asked, ' But is there no pleasure 
in science but that of discovery ? Is there none 
in using the knowledge we have attained ? Is 
there no pleasure in playing at chess after we 
know the moves?' In answer, I observe, that 
if we know beforehand all the moves that our an- 
tagonist intends to make and all our own, which 



92 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, 

v 

must be the case if we know everything by in- 
tuition, we shall have no pleasure. The pleasure 
really consists in discovering the intentions of our 
antagonist, and in calculating the effects of our 
own play ; a certain degree of ignorance of both 
of which is indispensable to gratification. In like 
manner, it is agreeable first to discover the natural 
laws, and then to study ' the moves ' that we ought 
to make, in consequence of knowing them. So 
much, then, for the sources of human happiness. 
In the second place, To reap enjoyment in the 
greatest quantity, and to maintain it most perma- 
nently, the faculties must be gratified harmonious- 
ly : In other words, if, among the various powers, 
the supremacy belongs to the moral sentiments, 
then the aim of our habitual conduct must be the 
attainment of objects suited to gratify them. For 
example, in pursuing wealth or fame as the lead- 
ing object of existence, full gratification is not af- 
forded to Benevolence, Veneration, and Conscien- 
tiousness, and, consequently, complete satisfaction 
cannot be enjoyed ; whereas, by seeking know- 
ledge, and dedicating life to the welfare of man- 
kind, and obedience to God, in our several voca- 
tions, these faculties will be gratified, and wealth, 
fame, health, and other advantages, will flow in 
their train, so that the whole mind will rejoice, 
and its delights will remain permanent as long as 
the conduct continues to be in accordance with 
the supremacy of the moral powers and the laws 
of external creation. 



AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 93 

Thirdly, To place human happiness on a secure 
basis, the laws of external creation themselves 
must accord with the dictates of the moral senti- 
ments, and intellect must be fitted to discover the 
nature and relations of both, and to direct the 
conduct in coincidence with them. 

Much has been written about the extent of hu- 
man ignorance ; but we should discriminate be- 
tween absolute incapacity to know, and mere want 
of information arising from not having used this 
capacity to its full extent. In regard to the first, 
or our capacity to know, it appears probable that, 
in this world, we shall never know the essence, 
beginning, or end of things ; because these are 
points which we have no faculties calculated to 
reach : But the same Creator who made the ex- 
ternal world constituted our faculties, and if we 
have sufficient data for inferring that His inten- 
tion is, that we shall enjoy existence here while 
preparing for the ulterior ends of our being ; and 
if it be true that we can be happy here only by 
becoming acquainted with the qualities and modes 
of action of our own minds and bodies, with the 
qualities and modes of action of external objects, 
and with the relations established between them ; 
in shorty by becoming thoroughly conversant with 
those natural laws, which, when observed, are 
pre-arranged to contribute to our enjoyment, and 
which, when violated, visit us with suffering, we 
may safely conclude that our mental capacities are 
wisely adapted to the attainment of these object^ 



j4 on the sources of human happiness, 

whenever we shall do our own duty in bringing 
them to their highest condition of perfection, and 
in applying them in the best manner. 

If we advert for a moment to what we already 
know, we shall see that this conclusion is support- 
ed by high probabilities. Before the mariner's 
compass and astronomy were discovered, nothing 
would seem more utterly beyond the reach of 
the human faculties than traversing the enormous 
Atlantic or Pacific Oceans ; but the moment these 
discoveries were made, how simple did this feat 
appear, and how completely within the scope of 
human ability ! But it became so, not by any ad- 
dition to man's mental capacities, nor by any 
change in the physical world; but by the easy 
process of applying Individuality, and the other 
knowing faculties, to observe, Causality to reflect, 
and Constructiveness to build ; in short, to per- 
form their natural functions. Who that, forty 
years ago, regarded the smallpox as a scourge, 
devastating Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, 
would not have despaired of the human faculties 
ever discovering an antidote against it ? and yet 
we have lived to see this end accomplished by a 
simple exercise of Individuality and Reflection, in 
observing the effects of, and applying vaccine in- 
oculation. Nothing appears more completely be- 
yond the reach of the human intellect, than the 
cause of volcanoes and earthquakes; and yet some 
approach towards its discovery has recently been 
made.* 

* Vide Cordier, in Edin, New Phil, Journ. No, VIII. p, 273, 



AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 95 

Sir Isaac Newton observed, that all bodies 
which refracted the rays of light were combustible, 
except one, the diamond, which he found to pos- 
sess this quality, but which he was not able, by 
any powers he possessed, to burn. He did not 
conclude, however, from this, that the diamond 
was an exception to the uniformity of nature. He 
inferred, that, as the same Creator made the re- 
fracting bodies which he was able to consume and 
the diamond, and proceeded by uniform laws, the 
diamond would, in all probability, be found to be 
combustible, and that the reason of its resisting his 
power, was ignorance on his part of the proper 
way to produce its conflagration. A century af- 
terwards, chemists made the diamond blaze with 
as much vivacity as Sir Issac Newton had done a 
wax candle. Let us proceed, then, on an analo- 
gous principle. If the intention of our Creator 
was, that we should enjoy existence while in this 
world, then He knew what was necessary to ena- 
ble us to do so ; and He will not be found to have 
failed in conferring on us powers fitted to accom- 
plish His design, provided we do our duty in 
developing and applying them. The great mo- 
tive to exertion is the conviction, that increased 
knowledge will furnish us with increased means 
of doing good, — with new proofs of benevolence 
and wisdom in the Great Architect of the Universe. 

The human race may be regarded as only in 
the beginning of its existence. The art of print- 
ing is an invention comparatively but of yester- 



96 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL L*AWS TO 

day, and no imagination can yet conceive the ef- 
fects which it is destined to produce. Phrenology 
was wanting to give it full efficacy, especially in 
moral science, in which little progress has been 
made for centuries. Now that this desideratum is 
supplied, may we not hope that the march of im- 
provement will proceed in a rapidly accelerating 
ratio ? 



SECT. VII. APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO 

THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 

If a system of living and occupation were to be 
framed for human beings, founded on the exposi- 
tion of their nature, which I have now given, it 
would be something like this. 

1st. So many hours a day would require to be 
dedicated by every individual in health, to the 
exercise of his nervous and muscular systems, in 
labor calculated to give scope to these functions. 
The reward of obeying this requisite of his nature 
would be health, and a joyous animal existence ; 
the punishment of neglect is disease, low spirits, 
and death. 

2dly. So many hours a day should be spent in 
the sedulous employment of the knowing and re- 
flecting faculties ; in studying the qualities of ex- 
ternal objects, and their relations y also the nature 
of all animated beings, and their relations ; not 
with the view of accumulating mere abstract and 
barren knowledge, but of enjoying the positive 



THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 97 

pleasure of mental activity, and of turning every 
discovery to account, as a means of increasing 
happiness, or alleviating misery. The leading ob- 
ject should always be to find out the relationship 
of every object to our own nature, organic, ani- 
mal, moral, and intellectual, and to keep that 
relationship habitually in mind, so as to render 
our acquirements directly gratifying to our various 
faculties. The reward of this conduct would be 
an incalculably great increase of pleasure, in the 
very act of acquiring knowledge of the real pro- 
perties of external objects, together with a great 
accession of power in reaping ulterior advantages, 
and in avoiding disagreeable affections. 

odly. So many hours a day ought to be devot- 
ed to the cultivation and gratification of our mor- 
al sentiments ; that is to say, in exercising these 
in harmony with intellect, and especially in ac- 
quiring the habit of admiring, loving, and yield- 
ing obedience to the Creator and his institutions. 
This last object is of vast importance. Intellect 
is barren of practical fruit, however rich it may 
be in knowledge, until it is fired and prompted to 
act by moral sentiment. In my view, knowledge 
by itself is comparatively worthless and impotent, 
compared with what it becomes when vivified by 
elevated emotions. It is not enough that Intel- 
lect is informed ; the moral faculties must simul- 
taneously cooperate ; yielding obedience to the 
precepts which the intellect recognises to be true. 
One way of cultivating the sentiments weald be 
9 



98 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO 

for men to meet and act together, on the fixed 
principles which I am now endeavouring to un- 
fold, and to exercise on each other in mutual in- 
struction, and in united adoration of the great and 
glorious Creator, the several faculties of Benevo- 
lence, Veneration, Hope, Ideality, Wonder, and 
Justice. The reward of acting in this manner 
would be a communication of direct and intense 
pleasure to each other ; for I refer to every indi- 
vidual who has ever had the good fortune to pass 
a day or an hour with a really benevolent, pious, 
honest, and intellectual man, whose soul swelled 
with adoration of his Creator, whose intellect was 
replenished with knowledge of his works, and 
whose whole mind was instinct with sympathy for 
human happiness, whether such a day did not af- 
ford him the most pure, elevated, and lasting grati- 
fication he ever enjoyed. Such an exercise, be- 
sides, would invigorate the whole moral and intel- 
lectual powers, and fit them to discover and obey 
the divine institutions. 

Phrenology is highly conducive to this enjoy- 
ment of our moral and intellectual nature. No 
faculty is bad, but, on the contrary each, when 
properly gratified, is a fountain of pleasure; in 
short, man possesses no feeling, of the legitimate 
exercise of which an enlightened and ingenuous 
mind need be ashamed. A party of thorough 
practical phrenologists, therefore, meets in the 
perfect knowledge of each other's qualities ; they 
respect these as the gifts of the Creator, and their 



THE PRACTCAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 99 

great object is to derive the utmost pleasure from 
their legitimate use, and to avoid every approxi- 
mation to abuse of them. The distinctions of coun- 
try and temperament are broken down by unity of 
principle ; the chilling restraints of Cautiousness, 
Self-esteem, Secretiveness, and Love of Approba- 
tion, which stand as barriers of eternal ice be- 
tween human beings in the ordinary intercourse ' 
of society, are gently removed ; the directing 
sway is committed to Benevolence, Veneration, 
Conscientiousness, and Intellect ; and then the 
higher principles of the mind operate with a de- 
lightful vivacity unknown to persons unacquainted 
with the qualities of human nature. 

Intellect also ought to be regularly exercised 
in arts, science, philosophy, and observation. 

I have said nothing of dedicating hours to the 
direct gratification of the animal powers ; not 
that they should not be exercised, but that full 
scope for their activity will be included in the 
employments already mentioned. In muscular 
exercises, Combativeness, Destructiveness, Con- 
structiveness, Acquisitiveness, Self-esteem, and 
Love of Approbation, may all be gratified. In 
contending with and surmounting physical and 
moral difficulties, Combativeness and Destructive- 
ness obtain vent ; in working at a mechanical em- 
ployment, requiring the exertion of strength, these 
two faculties, and also Constructiveness and Ac- 
quisitiveness, will be exercised ; in emulation 
who shall accomplish most good, Self-esteem and 



100 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO 

Love of Approbation will obtain scope. In the 
exercise of the moral faculties, several of these, 
and others of the animal propensities, are em- 
ployed ; Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, and 
Adhesiveness, for example, acting under the guid- 
ance of Benevolence, Veneration, Conscientious- 
ness, Ideality, and Intellect receive direct enjoy- 
ment in the domestic circle. From proper direc- 
tion also, and from the superior delicacy and re- 
finement imparted to them by the higher powers, 
they do not infringe the moral law, and leave no 
sting or repentance in the mind. 

Finally, a certain portion of time would require 
to be dedicated to taking of food and sleep. 

All systems hitherto practised have been defi- 
cient in providing for one or more of these branch- 
es of enjoyment. In the community at Orbiston, 
formed on Mr Owen's principles, music, dancing, 
and theatrical entertainments were provided; but 
the people soon tired of these. They had not 
corresponding moral and intellectual instruction. 
The novelty excited them, but there was nothing 
substantial behind. In common society, very lit- 
tle either of rational instruction or amusument is 
provided. The neglect of innocent amusement is 
a great error. 

If there be truth in these views, they will af- 
ford answers to two important questions, that have 
puzzled philosophers in regard to the progress of 
human improvement. The first is, Why should 
man have existed so long, and made so small an 



THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 101 

advance in the road to happiness ? * If I am right 
in the fundamental proposition, that activity in 
the faculties is synonymous with enjoyment of ex 
istence, — it follows that it would have been less 
wise and benevolent towards man, constituted as 
he is, to have communicated to him intuitively 
perfect knowledge, thereby leaving his mental 
powers with diminished motives to activity, than 
to bestow on him faculties endowed with high 
susceptibility of action, and to surround him with 
scenes, objects, circumstances, and relations, cal- 
culated to maintain them in ceaseless excitement ; 
although this latter arrangement necessarily sub- 
jects him to suffering while ignorant, and renders 
his first ascent in the scale of improvement diffi- 
cult and slow. It is interesting to observe, that, 
according to this view, although the first pair of 
the human race had been created with powerful 
and well balanced faculties, but of the same na- 
ture as at present ; if they were not also intui- 
tively inspired with knowledge of the whole crea- 
tion, and its relations, their first movements as 
individuals would have been retrograde ; that is, 
as individuals, they would, through pure want of 
information, have infringed many natural laws, 
and suffered evil ; while, as parts of the race, they 
would have been decidedly advancing ; for every 
pang they suffered would have led them to a new 
step in knowledge, and prompted them to advance 

* In offering a solution of this problem, I do not inquire why man 
has received his present constitution. 

9* 



102 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO 

towards a much higher condition than that which 
they at first occupied. According to the hypo- 
thesis now presented, not only is man really ben- 
efited by the arrangement w r hich leaves him to 
discover the natural laws for himself, although, 
during the period of his ignorance, he suffers 
much evil from unacquaintance with them ; but 
his progress towards knowledge and happiness 
must from the very extent of his experience, be 
actually greater than can at present be conceived. 
Its extent will become more obvious, and his ex- 
perience itself more valuable, after he has obtained 
a view of the real theory of his constitution. He 
will find that past miseries have at least exhausted 
countless errors, and he will know how to avoid 
thousands of paths that lead to pain ; in short, he 
will then discover that errors in conduct resemble 
errors in philosophy, in this, that they give addi- 
tional importance and practicability to truth, by 
the demonstration which they afford of the evils 
attending departures from its dictates. The grand 
sources of human suffering at present arise from 
bodily disease and mental distress, and, in the next 
chapter, these will be traced to infringement, 
through ignorance or otherwise, of physical, or- 
ganic, moral, or intellectual laws, which, when 
expounded, appear in themselves calculated to 
promote the happiness of the race. It may be 
supposed that, according to this view, as know- 
ledge accumulates, enjoyment will decrease ; but 
ample provision is made against this event, by 



THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 103 

withholding intuition from each generation as it 
appears on the stage ; each successive age must 
acquire knowledge for itself; and, provided ideas 
are new, and suited to the faculties, the pleasure 
of acquiring them from instructers, is only second 
to that of discovering them for ourselves ; and, 
probably countless ages may elapse before all the 
facts and relations of nature shall have been ex- 
plored, and the possibility of discovery exhausted. 
If the universe be infinite, knowledge can never 
be complete. 

The second question is, Has man really advanc- 
ed in happiness, in proportion to his increase in 
knowledge ? We are apt to entertain erroneous 
notions of the pleasures enjoyed by past ages. 
Fabulists have represented them as peaceful, in- 
nocent, and gay ; but if we look narrowly at 
the condition of the savage and barbarian of the 
present day, and recollect that these are the states 
of all individuals previous to the acquisition of 
knowledge, we shall not much or long regret the 
pretended diminution of enjoyment by civiliza- 
tion. Phrenology renders the superiority of the 
latter condition certain, by showing it to be a law 
of nature, that, until the intellect is extensively 
informed, and the moral sentiments assiduously 
exercised, the animal propensities bear the predo- 
minant sway ; and that wherever they are su- 
preme, misery is an inevitable concomitant. In- 
deed, the answer to the objection that happiness 
has not increased with knowledge, appears to me 



104 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS, &C. 

to be found in the fact, that until phrenology was 
discovered, the nature of man was not scientifically 
known; and in consequence, that not one of his 
institutions, civil or domestic, was correctly found- 
ed on the principle of the supremacy of the moral 
sentiments, or in accordance with the other laws 
of his constitution. Owing to the same cause, al- 
so, much of his knowledge has necessarily remain- 
ed partial, and inapplicable to use ; but after this 
science shall have been appreciated and applied, 
clouds of darkness, accumulated through long 
ages that are past, may be expected to roll away, 
as if touched by the rays of the meridian sun, and 
with them many of the miseries that attend total 
ignorance or imperfect information.* 

* Readers who are strangers to phrenology, and the evidence on 
which it rests, may regard the observations in the text as extrava- 
gant and enthusiastic ; but I respectfully remind them, that, while 
they judge in comparative ignorance, it has been my endeavour to 
subject it to the severest scrutiny. Having found its proofs irrefra- 
gable, and being convinced of its importance, I solicit their indul- 
gence in speaking of it as it appears to my own mind. 



105 



CHAPTER III. 

TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THE MISERIES OF MANKIND 
REFERABLE TO INFRINGEMENTS OF THE LAWS OF 
NATURE ? ♦ 

In the present chapter, I propose to inquire 
into some of the evils that have afflicted the 
human race ; also whether they have proceeded 
from abuses of institutions benevolent and wise in 
themselves, and calculated, when observed, to 
promote the happiness of man, or from a defec- 
tive or vicious constitution of nature, which he 
can neither remedy nor improve. 

SECT. I. CALAMITIES ARISING FROM INFRINGEMENTS 

OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. 

The proper way of viewing the Creator's insti- 
tutions, is to look, first, to their uses, and to the 
advantages that flow from observance of them ; 
and, secondly, to their abuses, and the evils con- 
sequent thereon. 

In Chapter II., some of the benefits conferred 
on man, by the law of gravitation, are enumerat- 
ed ; and I may here advert to the evils originating 
from that law, when human conduct is in oppo- 
sition to it. For example, men are liable to fall 
from horses, carriages, stairs, precipices, roofs^ 



106 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM*> 

chimneys, ladders, masts, to slip in the street, 
&c. by which accidents life is frequently alto- 
gether extinguished, or rendered miserable from 
lameness and pain ; and the question arises, Is 
human nature provided with any means of protec- 
tion against these evils, at all equal to their fre- 
quency and extent? 

The lower animals are equally subject to this 
law ; and the Creator has bestowed on them ex- 
ternal senses, nerves, muscles, bones, an instinc- 
tive sense of equilibrium, the sense of danger, or 
cautiousness, and other faculties, to place them in 
accordance with it. These appear to afford suffi- 
cient protection to animals placed in all ordinary 
circumstances; for we very rarely discover any 
of them, in their natural condition, killed or mu- 
tilated by accidents referable to gravitation. 
Where their mode of life exposes them to extra- 
ordinary danger from this law, they are provided 
with additional securities. The monkey, which 
climbs trees, enjoys great muscular energy in its 
legs, claws, and tail, far surpassing, in proportion 
to its gravitating tendency, or its bulk and weight, 
what is bestowed on the legs and arms of man ; 
so that, by means of them, it springs from branch 
to branch, in nearly complete security against the 
law in question. The goat, which browses on the 
brinks of precipices, has received a hoof and legs, 
that give precision and stability to its steps. 
Birds, which are destined to sleep on branches of 
trees, are provided with a muscle passing over 






INFRINGEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. 107 

the joints of each leg, and stretching down to the 
foot, which, being pressed by their weight, pro- 
duces a proportionate contraction of their claws, 
so as to make them cling the faster, the greater 
their liability to fall. The fly, which walks and 
sleeps on perpendicular walls, and the ceilings of 
rooms, has a hollow in its foot, from which it ex- 
pels the air, and the pressure of the atmosphere 
on the outside of the foot holds it fast to the ob- 
ject on which the inside is placed. The sea-horse, 
which is destined to climb up the sides of ice-hills, 
is provided with a similar apparatus. The camel, 
whose native region is the sandy deserts of the 
torrid zone, has broad-spreading hooves to sup- 
port it on the loose soil. Fishes are furnished 
with air bladders, by dilating and contracting of 
which they can accommodate themselves with 
perfect precision to the law of gravitation. 

In these instances, the lower animals, under the 
sole guidance of their instincts, appear to be plac- 
ed admirably in harmony with gravitation, and 
guaranteed against its infringement. Is Man, 
then, less an object of love with the Creator ? Is 
he alone left exposed to the evils that spring inev- 
itably from its neglect ? His means of protection 
are different, but when understood and applied, 
they will probably be found not less complete. 
Man, as well as the lower animals, has received 
bones, muscles, nerves, an instinct of equili- 
brium,* and organs of Cautiousness ; but not in 

* Vide Essay on Weight, Phren. Journ. vol. ii. p. 412. 



108 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM** 

equal perfection, in proportion to his figure, size, 
and weight, with those bestowed on them : — The 
difference, however, is far more than compensated 
by other organs, particularly those of Construc- 
tiveness and Reflection, in which he greatly sur- 
passes them. Keeping in view that the external 
world, in regard to man, is arranged on the prin- 
ciple of supremacy in moral sentiments and intel- 
lect, we shall probably find, that the calamities 
suffered by him from the law of gravitation, are 
referable to predominance of the animal propensi- 
ties, or to neglect of proper exercise of his intel- 
lectual powers. For example, when coaches break 
down, ships sink, men fall from ladders, &c. how 
generally may the cause be traced to decay in the 
vehicle, the vessel, or ladder, which a predomi- 
nating Acquisitiveness alone prevented from being 
repaired ; or when men fall from houses, scaffolds, 
or slip on the street, &c. how frequently should 
we find their muscular, nervous, and mental ener- 
gies, impaired by preceding debaucheries ; in 
other words, by predominance of the animal fac- 
ulties, which, for the time, diminished their natur- 
al means of accommodating themselves to the law 
from which they suffer. Or, again, the slater, in 
using a ladder, assists himself by Constructiveness 
and Reflection ; but, in walking along the ridge 
of a house, or standing on a chimney, he takes no 
aid from these faculties ; he trusts to the mere 
instinctive power of equilibrium, in which he is 
inferior to the lower animals, and, in so doing, 



INFRINGEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. 109 

clearly violates the law of his nature, that requires 
him to use reflection, where instinct 'is deficient. 
Causality and Constructiveness could invent means 
by which, if he slipped from a roof or chimney, 
his fall might be arrested. A small chain, for 
instance, attached by one end to a girdle round 
his body, and the other end fastened by a hook 
and eye to the roof, might leave him at liberty to 
move about, and break his fall, in case he slipped. 
How frequently, too, do these accidents happen, 
after disturbance of the faculties and corporeal 
functions by intoxication? 

The objection will probably occur, that in the 
gross condition in which the mental powers exist, 
the great body of mankind are incapable of exert- 
ing habitually that degree of moral and intellec- 
tual energy, which is indispensable to observance 
of the natural laws; and that, therefore, they are, 
in point of fact, less fortunate than the lower ani- 
mals. I admit, that, at present, this representa- 
tion is to a considerable extent just ; but nowhere 
do I perceive the human powers exercised and 
instructed, in a degree at all approaching to their 
limits. Let any person recollect of how much 
greater capacity for enjoyment and security from 
danger he has been conscious, at a particular 
time, when his whole mind was filled with, and 
excited by, some mighty interest, not only allied 
to, but founded in, morality and intellect, than in 
that languid condition which accompanies the 
absence of elevated and ennobling motives, and 
10 



110 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM ^ 

he may form some idea of what man is capable 
of reaching when his powers shall have been cul- 
tivated to the extent of their capacity. At the 
present moment, no class of society is systemati- 
cally instructed in the constitution of their own 
minds and bodies, in the relations of these to exter- 
nal objects, in the nature of these objects, in the 
natural supremacy of the moral sentiments, in the 
principle that activity in the faculties is the only 
source of pleasure, and that the higher the powers, 
the more intense the delight ; and, if such views 
be to the mind, what light is to the eyes, air to the 
lungs, and food to the stomach, there is no won- 
der that a mass of inert mentality, if I may use 
such a word, should everywhere exist around us, 
and that countless evils should spring from its con- 
tinuance in this condition. If active moral and 
intellectual faculties are the natural fountains of 
enjoyment, and the external world is created with 
reference to this state ; it is as obvious that misery 
must result from animal supremacy and intellec- 
tual torpidity, as that flame, which is constituted 
to burn only when supplied with oxygen, must 
inevitably become extinct, when exposed to carbo- 
nic acid gas. Finally, if the arrangement by which 
man is left to discover and obey the laws of his 
own nature, and of the physical world, be more 
conducive to activity, than intuitive knowledge, 
the calamities now contemplated appear to be in- 
stituted to force him to his duty ; and his duty, 
when understood, will constitute his delight. 



INFRINGEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. Ill 

While, therefore, we lament the fate of individ- 
ual victims to the law of gravitation, we cannot 
condemn that law itself. If it were suspended, 
to save men from the effects of negligence, not 
only would the proud creations of human skill tot- 
ter to their base, and the human body rise from 
the earth, and hang midway in the air, but our 
highest enjoyments would be terminated, and our 
faculties become positively useless, by being de- 
prived of their field of exertion. Causality, for 
instance, teaches that similar causes will always, 
cceteris paribus, produce similar effects; and, if 
the physical laws were suspended or varied, to ac- 
commodate man's negligence or folly, it is obvious 
that this faculty would be without an object, and 
that no definite course of action could be entered 
upon with confidence in the result. If, then, this 
view of the constitution of nature were kept stea- 
dily in view, the occurrence of one accident of 
this kind would suggest to Reflection means to 
prevent others. 

Similar illustrations and commentaries might 
be given, in regard to the other physical laws to 
which man is subject ; but the object of the pres- 
ent Essay being merely to evolve principles, I 
confine myself to gravitation, as the most obvious 
and best understood. 

I do not mean to say, that, by the mere exercise 
of intellect, man may absolutely guarantee him- 
self against all accidents ; but only that the more 
ignorant and careless he is, the more he will suffer, 



112 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

and the more intelligent and vigilant, the less; 
and that I can perceive no limits to this rule. 
The law of most civilized countries recognizes 
this principle, and subjects owners of ships, 
coaches, and other vehicles, in damages arising 
from gross infringements of the physical laws. It 
is unquestionable that the enforcement of this 
liability has increased security in travelling in no 
trifling degree. 

SCET. II. ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND, 

FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 

An organised being, I have said, is one which 
derives its existence from a previously existing or- 
ganised being, which subsists on food, grows, at- 
tains maturity, decays and dies. Whatever the 
ultimate object of the Creator, in constituting or- 
ganised beings, may be, it will scarcely be de- 
nied, that part of His design is, that they should 
enjoy their existence here ; and, if so, every par- 
ticular part of their systems will be found con- 
ducive in its intention to this end. The first law, 
then, that must be obeyed, to render an organised 
being perfect in its kind, is, that the germ from 
which it springs shall be complete in all its parts, 
and sound in its whole constitution ; the second 
is, that the moment it is ushered into life, and as 
long as it continues to live, it shall be supplied 
with food, light, air, and every physical aliment 
necessary for its support ; and the third law is 5 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 113 

that it shall duly exercise its functions. When 
all these laws are obeyed, the being should enjoy 
pleasure from its organised frame, if its Creator is 
benevolent ; and its constitution should be so 
adapted to its circumstances, as to admit of obe- 
dience to them, if its Creator is wise and powerful. 
Is there, then, no such phenomenon on earth, as a 
human being existing in full possession of organic 
vigour, from birth till advanced age, when the or- 
ganised system is fairly worn out ? Numberless 
examples of this kind have occurred, and they 
show to demonstration, that the corporeal frame 
of man is so constituted, as to admit the possibili- 
ty of his enjoying organic health and vigour, dur- 
ing the whole period of a long life. In the life of 
Captain Cook it is mentioned, that ' one circum- 
stance peculiarly worthy of notice is, the perfect 
and uninterrupted health of the inhabitants of 
New Zealand. In all the visits made to their 
towns, where old and young, men and women, 
crowded about our voyagers, they never observed 
a single person who appeared to have any bodily 
complaint; nor among the numbers that were 
i seen naked, was once perceived the slightest 
eruption upon the skin, or least mark which indi- 
cated that such an eruption had formerly existed. 
! Another proof of the health of these people is the 
I 1 facility with which the wounds they at any time 
! receive are healed. In the man who had been 
j shot with the musket ball through the fleshy part 
of his arm, the wound seemed to be so well digest- 
10* 



114 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM* 

ed, and in so fair a way of being perfectly heal- 
ed, that if Mr Cook had not known that no appli- 
cation had been made to it, he declared that he 
should certainly have inquired, with a very inter- 
ested curiosity, after the vulnerary herbs and 
surgical art of the country. An additional evi- 
dence of human nature's being untainted with 
disease in New Zealand, is the great number of 
old men with whom it abounds. Many of them, 
by the loss of their hair and teeth, appeared to be 
very ancient, and yet none of them were decrepit. 
Although they were not equal to the young in 
muscular strength, they did not come in the 
least behind them with regard to cheerfulness and 
vivacity. Water, as far as our navigators could dis- 
cover, is the universal and only liquor of the New 
Zealanders. It is greatly to be wished that their 
happiness in this respect may never be destroyed 
by such a connexion with the European nations, as 
shall introduce that fondness for spirituous liquors 
which hath been so fatal to the Indians of North 
America.'— Kippis' Life of Captain Cook. Dub- 
lin, 1788, p. 100. 

Now, as a natural law never admits of an ex- 
ception ; for example, as no man ever sees without 
eyes, or digests without a stomach, we are entitled 
to say, that the best condition in which an organ- 
ized being has ever been found, is fairly within 
the capabilities of the race. A human being, vig- 
orous and healthy from the cradle to the grave, 
could no more exist, unless the natural constitu- 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 115 

tion of his organs permitted it, of design, than vis- 
ion could exist without eyes. Health and vigour 
cannot result from infringement of the organic 
laws ; for then pain and disease would be the ob- 
jects of these laws, and beneficence, wisdom, and 
power, could never be ascribed to the Creator, 
who had established them. Let us hold, then, 
that the organised system of man, in itself — admits 
of the possibility of health, vigour, and organic 
enjoyment, during the full period of life ; and pro- 
ceed to inquire into the causes why these advan- 
tages are not universal. 

One organic law, is, that the germ of the infant 
being must be complete in all its parts, and per- 
fectly sound in its condition, as an indispensable 
requisite to its vigorous developement, and full en- 
joyment of existence. If the corn that is sown is 
weak, wasted, and damaged, the plants that spring 
from it will be feeble, and liable to speedy decay. 
The same law holds in the animal kingdom ; and 
I would ask, has it hitherto been observed by man ? 
It is notorious that it has not. Indeed, its exist- 
ence has been either altogether unknown, or in a 
very high degree disregarded by human beings. 
The feeble, the sickly, the exhausted with age, 
and the incompletely developed, through extreme 
youth, marry, and, without the least compunction 
regarding the organization which they shall trans- 
mit to their offspring, send into the world misera- 
ble beings, the very rudiments of whose existence 
are tainted with disease. If we trace such conduct 



116 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM., 

to its source, we shall find it to originate either in 
animal propensity, intellectual ignorance, or more 
frequently in both. The inspiring motives are 
generally mere sensual appetite, avarice, or ambi- 
tion, operating in the absence of all just concep- 
tions of the impending evils. The punishment of 
this offence is debility and pain, transmitted to the 
children, and reflected back in anxiety and sorrow 
on the parents. Still the great point to be kept 
in view, is, that these miseries are not legitimate 
consequences of observance of the organic laws, 
but the direct chastisement of their infringement. 
These laws are unbending, and admit of no ex- 
ception ; they must be fulfilled, or the penalties 
of disobedience will follow. On this subject pro- 
found ignorance reigns in society. From such 
observations as I have been able to make, I am 
convinced that the union of certain tempera- 
ments and combinations of mental organs in the 
parents, are highly conducive to health, talent, 
and morality in the offspring, and vice versa, and 
that these conditions may be discovered and 
taught with far greater certainty, facility, and 
advantage, than is generally imagined. It will 
be time enough to conclude that men are natur- 
ally incapable of obedience to the organic laws, 
after their intellects have been instructed, their 
moral sentiments trained to observance of the 
Creator's natural institutions, as at once their 
duty, their interest, and a grand source of their 
happiness ; and they have continued to rebel. 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 117 

A second organic law regards nutriment, which 
must be supplied of a suitable kind, and in due 
quantity. This law requires also free air, light, 
cleanliness, and attention to every physical ar- 
rangement by which the functions of the body 
may be favored or impaired. Have mankind, 
then, obeyed or neglected this institution? I 
need scarcely answer the question. To be able 
to obey institutions, we must first know them. 
Before we can know the organic constitution of 
our body, we must study that constitution, and 
the study of the human constitution is anatomy 
and physiology. Before we can be acquainted 
with its relations to external objects, we must 
learn the existence and qualities of these objects, 
(unfolded by chemistry, natural history, and nat- 
ural philosophy), and compare them with the con- 
stitution of the body. When we have fulfilled 
these conditions, we shall be better able to dis- 
cover the laws which the Creator has instituted 
in regard to our organic system. It will be said, 
however, that such studies are impracticable to 
the great bulk of mankind, and, besides, do not 
appear much to benefit those who pursue them. 
They are impracticable only while mankind prefer 
founding their public and private institutions on 
the basis of the propensities, instead of that of the 
sentiments. I have mentioned, that exercise of the 
nervous and muscular systems is required of all 
the race by the Creator's fiat, that if all, who are 
capable, would obey this law, a moderate extent 



118 CALAMITIES ARISING FROlvf 

of exertion, agreeable and salubrious in itself, 
would suffice to supply our wants, and to sur- 
round us with every beneficial luxury ; and that a 
large portion of unemployed time would remain. 
The Creator has bestowed on us Knowing Facul- 
ties, fitted to explore the facts of these sciences, 
Reflecting Faculties to trace their relations, and 
Moral Sentiments calculated to feel interest in 
such investigations, and to lead us to reverence 
and obey the laws which they unfold ; and, finally, 
he has made this occupation, when entered upon 
with the view of tracing His power and wisdom 
in the subjects of our studies, and of obeying His 
institutions, the most delightful and invigorating 
of all vocations. In place, then, of such a course 
of education being impracticable, every arrange- 
ment of the Creator appears to be prepared in 
direct anticipation of its actual accomplishment. 
The second objection, that those who study 
these sciences are not more healthy and happy, as 
organised beings, than those who neglect them, 
admits also of an easy answer. Parts of these 
sciences are taught to a few individuals, whose 
main design in studying them is to apply them as 
means of acquiring wealth and fame ; but they 
have nowhere been taught as connected parts of 
a great system of natural arrangements, fraught 
with the highest influences on human enjoyment ; 
and in no instance have the intellect and senti- 
ments been systematically directed to the natural 
laws, as the grand fountains of happiness and 






INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 119 

misery to the race, and trained to observe and 
obey them as the Creator's institutions. 

A third organic law, is, that all our functions 
shall be duly exercised ; and is this law observed 
by mankind? Many persons are able, from ex- 
perience, to attest the severity of the punishment 
that follows from neglecting to exercise the nerv- 
ous and muscular systems, in the lassitude, indi- 
gestion, irritability, debility, and general uneasi- 
ness that attend a sedentary and inactive life. But 
the penalties that attach to neglect of exercising 
the brain are much less known, and, therefore, I 
shall notice them more at length. How often have 
we heard the question asked, What is the use of 
education ? The answer might be illustrated by 
explaining to the inquirer the nature and objects 
of the various organs of the body, such as the 
limbs, lungs, eyes, and then asking him if he could 
perceive any advantage to a being so constituted, 
in obtaining access to earth, air, and light. He 
would, at once, declare, that they were obviously 
of the very highest utility to him, for they were 
the only conceivable objects, by means of which 
these organs could obtain scope for action, which 
action we suppose him to know to be pleasure. 
To those, then, who know the constitution of the 
intellectual and moral powers of man, I need only 
say, that the objects introduced to the mind by 
education, bear the same relation to them that the 
physical elements of nature bear to the nerves and 
muscles ; they afford them scope for action, and 



120 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM* 

yield them delight. The meaning which is com- 
monly attached to the word use in such cases, is 
how much money, influence, or consideration, will 
education bring ; these being the only objects of 
strong desire with which uncultivated minds are 
acquainted ; and they do not perceive in what way 
education can greatly gratify such propensities. 
But the moment the mind is opened to the per- 
ception of its own constitution and to the natural 
laws, the great advantage of moral and intellec- 
tual cultivation, as a means of exercising the 
faculties, and of directing the conduct in obedi- 
ence to these laws, becomes apparent. 

But there is an additional benefit arising from 
healthy activity of brain, which is little known. 
The brain is the fountain of nervous energy to 
the whole body, and different modifications of 
that energy appear to take place, according to 
the mbde in which the faculties and organs are 
affected. For example, when misfortune and dis- 
grace impend over us, the organs of Cautiousness, 
Self-esteem, Love of Approbation, &c. are pain- 
fully excited ; and then they transmit an impared 
or a positively noxious nervous influence to the 
heart, stomach, intestines, and thence to the rest 
of the body ; the pulse becomes feeble and irregu- 
lar, digestion is deranged, and the whole corpo- 
real frame wastes. When, on the other hand, the 
cerebral organs are agreeably affected, a benign 
and vivifying nervous influence pervades the frame, 
and all the functions of the body are performed 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 121 

with more pleasure and completeness. Now, it 
is a law, that the quantum of nervous energy 
increases with the number of cerebral organs 
roused to activity. In the retreat of the French 
from Moscow, for example, when no enemy was 
near, the soldiers became depressed in courage, 
and enfeebled in body, they nearly sunk to the 
earth through exhaustion and cold ; but no sooner 
did the fire of the Russian guns sound in their 
ears, or the gleam of their bayonets flash in their 
eyes, than new life seemed to pervade them. 
They wielded powerfully the arms, which a few 
moments before, they could scarcely carry or trail 
on the ground. No sooner, however, was the 
enemy repulsed, than their feebleness returned. 
The theory of this is, that the approach of the 
combat called into activity a variety of additional 
faculties ; these sent new energy through every 
nerve, and while their vivacity was maintained by 
the external stimulus, they rendered the soldiers 
strong beyond their merely physical condition. 
Many persons have probably experienced the ope- 
ration of the same principle. When sitting feeble 
and listless by the fire, we have heard of an acci- 
dent having occurred to some beloved friend, who 
required our instantaneous aid, or an unexpected 
visitor has arrived, in whom our affections were 
bound up, in an instant our lassitude was gone, 
and we moved with an alertness and animation 
that seemed surprising to ourselves. The cause 
was the same ; these events roused Adhesiveness, 
11 



122 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM** 

Benevolence, Love of Approbation, Intellect, and 
a variety of faculties, which were previously dor- 
mant, and their influence invigorated the limbs, 
Dr Sparmann, in his Voyage to the Cape, men- 
tions, that 6 there was now again a great scarcity 
of meat in the waggon ; for which reason my 
Hottentots began to grumble, and reminded me 
that we ought not to waste so much of our time 
in looking after insects and plants, but give a bet- 
ter look out after the game. At the same time, 
they pointed to a neighbouring dale overrun with 
wood, at the upper edge of which, at the distance 
of about a mile and a quarter from the spot where 
we then were, they had seen several buffaloes. 
Accordingly, we went thither ; but though our 
fatigue was lessened by our Hottentots carrying 
our guns for us up a hill, yet we were quite out 
of breath, and overcome by the sun, before we 
got up to it. Yet, what even now appears to me 
a matter of wonder is, that as soon as we got a 
glimpse of the game, all this languor left us in 
an instant. In fact, we each of us strove to fire 
before the other, so that we seemed entirely to 
have lost sight of all prudence and caution.' — ' In 
the mean time, our temerity, which chiefly pro- 
ceeded from hurry and ignorance, was considered 
by the Hottentots as a proof of spirit and intre- 
pidity hardly to be equalled.' 

It is part of the same law, that the more agree- 
able the mental stimulus, the more benign is the 
nervous influence transmitted to the body. 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 123 

I 

If we imagine a man or woman, who has receiv- 
ed from nature a large and tolerably active brain, 
but who has not enjoyed the advantages of a sci- 
entific or extensive education, so as to feel an in- 
terest in moral and intellectual pursuits for their 
own sake, and who, from possessing wealth suffi- 
cient to remove the necessity for labor, is engaged 
in no profession, we shall find a perfect victim to 
infringement of the natural laws. The individual 
ignorant of these laws, will, in all probability, 
neglect nervous and muscular exercise, and suffer 
the miseries arising from impeded circulation and 
impaired digestion ; in entire want of every ob- 
ject on which the energy of his brain might be 
expended, its stimulating influence on the body 
will be withheld, and the effects of muscular in- 
activity tenfold aggravated ; all the functions 
will, in consequence, become enfeebled ; lassi- 
tude, uneasiness, anxiety, and a thousand evils, 
will arise, and life, in short, will become a mere 
endurance of punishment for infringement of in- 
stitutions, calculated, in themselves, to promote 
happiness and afford delight, when known and 
obeyed. This fate frequently overtakes uneducat- 
ed females, whose early days have been occupied 
with business, or the cares of a family, but which 
occupations have ceased before old age had di- 
minished corporeal vigour; it overtakes men also, 
who, uneducated, retire from active business in 
the prime of life. In some instances, these evils 
accumulate to such a degree that the brain itself 



124 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

gives way, its functions become deranged, and in- 
sanity is the result. 

It is worthy of remark, that the more elevated 
the objects of our study, the higher in the scale 
are the mental organs which are exercised, and 
the higher the organs the more pure and intense 
is the pleasure; and hence, a vivacious and regu- 
larly supported excitement of the moral senti- 
ments and intellect, is, by the organic law, high- 
ly favorable to health and corporeal vigour. In 
the fact of a living animal being able to retain 
life in an oven that will bake dead flesh, we see 
an illustration of the organic law rising above the 
purely physical; and, in the circumstance of the 
moral and intellectual organs transmitting the 
most favorable nervous influence to the whole 
bodily system, we have an example of the moral 
and intellectual law rising higher than the mere 
organic. 

No person after having his intellect and senti- 
ments imbued with a perception of, and belief in, 
the natural laws, as now explained, can possibly 
desire idleness, as a source of pleasure; nor can 
he possibly regard muscular exertion and mental 
activity, when not carried to excess, as anything 
else than enjoyments kindly vouchsafed to him by 
the benevolence of the Creator. The notion that 
moderate labor and mental exertion are evils, can 
originate only from ignorance, or from viewing 
the effects of over-exhaustion as the result of the 
natural law, and not as the punishment for in- 
fringement of it. 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 125 

If, then, we sedulously inquire, in each particu- 
lar instance, into the cause of the sickness, pain, 
premature death, and general derangement of the 
corporeal frame of man, which we see around us, 
and endeavour to discover whether it has originat- 
ed in obedience to the physical and organic laws, 
or sprung from infringement of them, we shall be 
able to form some estimate how far bodily suffer- 
ing is justly attributable to imperfections of na- 
ture, and how far to our own ignorance and neg- 
lect of divine institutions. 

The foregoing principles being of much prac- 
tical importance, may', with propriety, be eluci- 
dated by a few cases of actual occurrence. Two 
or three centuries ago, various cities in Europe 
were depopulated by the plague, and, in particu- 
lar, London was visited by an awful mortality 
from this cause, in the reign of Charles the Sec- 
ond. The people of that age attributed this 
scourge to the inscrutable decrees of Providence, 
and some to the magnitude of the nation's moral 
iniquities. According to the views now present- 
ed, it must have arisen from infringement of the 
organic laws, and been intended to enforce strict- 
er obedience to them in future. According to 
this view, there was nothing inscrutable in its cau- 
ses or objects, which, when clearly analysed, appear 
to have had no direct reference to the moral con- 
dition of the people : I say direct reference to the 
moral condition of the people, because it would 
be easy to show, that the physical, organic, and 
11* 



126 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

all the other natural laws, are connected indirect- 
ly, and constituted in harmopy, with the moral 
law; and that infringement of the one often leads 
to disobedience to another, and brings a double 
punishment on the offender. But, in the mean 
time, I observe that the facts recorded in history 
exactly correspond with the theory now propound- 
ed. The streets of London were excessively nar- 
row, the habits of the people dirty, and no ade- 
quate provision was made for removing the filth 
unavoidably produced by a dense population. 
The great fire in that city, which happened soon 
after the pestilence, afforded an opportunity of 
remedying, in some degree, the narrowness of the 
streets; and habits of increasing cleanliness abat- 
ed the filth ; these changes brought the people 
into a closer obedience to the organic laws, and 
no plague has spice returned. Again, till very 
lately, thousands of children died yearly of the 
smallpox, but, in our day, vaccine inoculation 
saves ninetynine out of a hundred, who, under 
the old system, would have died. The theory of 
its operation is not. known, but we may rest assur- 
ed, that it places the system more in accordance 
with the organic laws, than in the cases where 
death ensued. A gentleman, who died about ten 
years ago at an advanced period of life, told me, 
that, six miles west from Edinburgh, the country 
was so unhealthy in his youth, that every spring 
the farmers and their servants were seized with 
fever and ague, and required regularly to undergo 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 127 

bleeding, and a course of medicine, to prevent 
attacks, or restore them from their effects. At 
the time, these visitations were believed to be 
sent by Providence, and to be inherent in the con- 
stitution of things; after, however, said my in- 
formant, an improved system of agriculture and 
draining was established, and vast pools of stag- 
nant water formerly left between the ridges of the 
field were removed, dunghills carried to a dis- 
tance from the houses, and the houses themselves 
made more spacious and commodious, every symp- 
tom of ague and marsh-fever disappeared from 
the district, and it became highly salubrious. In 
other words, as soon as the gross infringement of 
the organic laws was abated by a more active ex- 
ertion of the muscular and intellectual powers of 
man, the punishment ceased. In like manner, 
how many calamities occurred in coalpits, in con- 
sequence of infringement of a physical law, viz. 
by introducing lighted candles and lamps into 
places filled with hydrogen gas, that had emanat- 
ed from seams of coal, and which exploded, 
scorched, and suffocated the men and animals 
within its reach, until Sir Humphrey Davy discov- 
ered that the Creator had established such a rela- 
tion betwixt flame, wire-gauze, and hydrogen gas, 
that by surrounding the flame with gauze, its pow- 
er of exploding hydrogen was counteracted. By 
the simple application of a covering of wire- 
gauze, put over and around the flame, it is pre- 
vented from igniting gas beyond it, and colliers 



128 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

are now able to carry, with safety, lighted lamps 
into places highly impregnated with inflammable 
air. I have been informed, that the accidents 
from explosion, which still occasionally occur in 
coal mines, arise from neglecting to keep the 
lamps in perfect condition. 

It is needless to multiply examples in support 
of the proposition, that the organized system 
of man, in itself, admits of a healthy existence 
from infancy to old age, provided its germ has 
been healthy, and its subsequent condition has 
been uniformly in harmony with the physical and 
organic laws ; but it has been objected, that al- 
though the human faculties may perhaps be ade- 
quate to discover these laws, and to record them 
in books, yet they are totally incapable of retaining 
them in the memory, and of formally applying 
them in every act of life. If, it is said, we could 
not move a step without calculating and adjusting 
the body to the law of gravitation, and could nev- 
er eat a meal without a formal rehearsal of the 
organic laws, life would become oppressed by the 
pedantry of knowledge, and rendered miserable by 
petty observances and trivial details. The answer 
to this is, that all our faculties are adapted by the 
Creator to the external world, and act instinctive- 
ly when their objects are placed in the proper 
light before them. For example, in walking on a 
foot-path in the country during day, we are not 
conscious, in adjusting our steps to the inequalities 
of the surface, of being overburdened by mental 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 129 

calculation. In fact, we perform this adjustment 
with so little trouble, that we are not aware of 
having made any particular mental or muscular 
effort. But, on returning at night, when we can- 
not see, we stumble, and discover, for the first 
time, how important a duty our faculties had been 
performing during day, without our having ad- 
verted to their labors. Now, the simple medium 
of light is sufficient to bring clearly before our 
eyes the inequalities of ground; but to make the 
mind equally familiar with the nature of the count- 
less objects, and their relations, which abound in 
external nature, an intellectual light is necessary, 
which can be struck out only by exercising and 
applying the knowing and reflecting faculties ; but 
the moment that light is obtained, and the quali- 
ties and relationships in question are perceived by 
its means, the faculties, so long as the light lasts, 
will act instinctively in adapting our conduct to 
the nature of the objects, just as in accommodating 
our movements to the unequal surface of the 
ground. It is no more necessary for us to go 
through a course of physical, botanical, and chem- 
ical reasoning, before we are able to abstain from 
eating hemlock, after its properties are known, 
than it is to go through a course of mathematical 
demonstration, before lifting the one foot higher 
than the other, in ascending a stair. At present, 
physical and political science, morals and religion, 
are not taught as parts of one connected system ; 
nor are the relations between them and the consti- 



130 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM* 

tution of man pointed out to the world. In con- 
sequence, theoretical knowledge and practice are 
often widely separated. Some of the advantages 
of the scientific education now recommended 
would be the following : 

In the 1st place, the physical and organic laws, 
when truly discovered, appear to the mind as in- 
stitutions of the Creator, wise and salutary in 
themselves, unbending in their operation, and uni- 
versal in their application. They interest our in- 
tellectual faculties, and strongly impress our senti- 
ments. The necessity of obeying them, comes 
upon us with all the authority of a mandate of 
God. While we confine ourselves to a mere re- 
commendation to beware of damp, to observe 
temperance, or to take exercise, without explain- 
ing the principle, the injunction carries only the 
weight due to the authority of the individual who 
gives it, and is addressed to only two or three fac- 
ulties, Veneration and Cautiousness, for instance, 
or Self-love in him who receives it. But if we 
are made acquainted with the elements of the 
physical world, and with those of our organized 
system, — with the uses of the different parts of 
the latter, and the conditions necessary to their 
healthy action, — with the causes of their derange- 
ment, and the pains consequent thereon : and if 
the obligation to attend to these conditions be 
enforced on our moral sentiments and intellect, 
then the motives to observe the physical and 
organic laws, as well as the power of doing so^ 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 131 

will be prodigiously increased. Before we can 
dance well, we must not only know the motions, 
but our muscles must be trained to execute them. 
In like manner, to enable us to act on precepts, 
we must not only comprehend their meaning, but 
our intellects and sentiments must be disciplined 
into actual performance. Now, the very act of 
acquiring connected scientific information con- 
cerning the natural world, its qualities, and their 
relations, is to the intellect and sentiments what 
practical dancing is to the muscles ; it invigorates 
them; and, as obedience to the natural laws must 
spring from them, exercise renders it more easy 
and delightful. 

2. It is only by being taught the principle on 
which consequences depend, that we see the in- 
variableness of the results of the physical and or- 
ganic laws ; acquire confidence in, and respect for 
the laws themselves ; and fairly endeavour to ac- 
commodate our conduct to their operation. Dr 
Johnson defines 'principle' to be 'fundamental 
truth; original postulate; first position from which 
others are deduced;' and in these senses I use 
the word. The human faculties are instinctively 
active, and desire gratification ; but Intellect itself 
must have fixed data, on which to reason, other- 
wise it is itself a mere impulse. The man in 
whom Constructiveness and Weight are powerful, 
will naturally betake himself to constructing ma- 
chinery ; but, if he be ignorant of the principles 
of mechanical science, he will not direct his 



132 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

efforts to as important ends, and attain them as 
successfully, as if his intellect were stored with 
these. Principles are deduced from the laws of 
nature. A man may make music by the instinc- 
tive impulses of Time and Tune ; but there are 
immutable laws of harmony ; and, if ignorant of 
these, he will not perform so invariably, correctly, 
and in good taste, as if he knew them. In every 
art and science, there are principles referable 
solely to the constitution of nature, but these 
admit of countless applications. A musician may 
produce gay, grave, solemn, or ludicrous tunes, 
all good of their kind, by following the laws of 
harmony; but he will never produce one good 
piece by violating them. While the inhabitants 
west of Edinburgh allowed the stagnant pools 
to deface their fields, some seasons would be 
more healthy than others ; and, while the cause 
of the disease was unsuspected, this would con- 
firm them in the notion that health and sickness 
were dispensed by an overruling Providence, on 
inscrutable principles, which they could not com- 
prehend ; but the moment the cause was known, 
it would be found that the most healthy seasons 
were those that were cold and dry, and the most 
sickly those that were warm and moist ; and they 
would then perceive, that the superior salubrity 
of one year, and unwholesomeness of another, 
were clearly referable to one principle, and would 
be both more strongly prompted, and rendered 
morally and intellectually more capable of apply- 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 133 

ing the remedy. If some intelligent friend had 
merely told them to drain their fields, and remove 
their dunghills, they would not probably have 
done it; but whenever their intellects were en- 
lightened, and their sentiments roused, to appre- 
ciate the advantages of adopting, and disadvan- 
tages of neglecting, the improvement, it became 
easy. 

The truth of these views may be still further 
illustratrated by examples. A young gentleman 
of Glasgow, whom I knew, went out, as a mer- 
chant to North America. Business required him 
to sail from New York to St Domingo. The 
weather was hot, and he, being very sick, found 
the confinement below deck, in bed, as he said, 
intolerable ; that is, this confinement was, for the 
moment, more painful than the course which he 
adopted, of laying himself down at full length on 
the deck, in the open air. He was warned by his 
fellow passengers, and the officersof the ship, that 
he would inevitably induce fever by this proceed- 
ing : but he was utterly ignorant of the physical 
and organic laws ; his intellect had been trained to 
regard only wealth and present pleasure as objects 
of real importance ; it could perceive no necessary 
connexion between exposure to the mild and grate- 
ful sea breeze of a warm climate and fever, and he 
obstinately refused to quit his position. The con- 
sequence was, that he was rapidly taken ill, and 
lived just one day after arriving at St Domingo. 

Knowledge of chemistry and physiology would 
12 



134 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

have enabled him, in an instant, to understand 
that the sea air, in warm climates, holds a pro- 
digious quantity of water in solution, and that 
damp and heat, operating together on the human 
organs, tend to derange their healthy action, and 
ultimately to destroy them entirely : and if his 
sentiments had been deeply imbued with a feeling 
of the indispensable duty of yielding obedience to 
the institutions of the Creator, he would have ac- 
tually enjoyed, not only a greater desire, but a 
greater power of supporting the temporary in- 
convenience of the heated cabin, and might, by 
possibility, have escaped death. 

Captain Murray, R. N. mentioned to D* A. 
Combe, that, in his opinion, most of the bad ef- 
fects of the climate of the West Indies might 
be avoided by care and attention to clothing ; 
and so satisfied was he on this point, that he had 
petitioned to be sent there in preference to the 
North American station, and had no reason to 
regret the change. The measures which he 
adopted, and their effects, are detailed in the 
following interesting and instructive letter : 

* Assynt, April 22, 1827. 

1 My Dear Sir, 

6 I should have written to you before this, had I 

not been anxious to refer to some memorandums, 

which I could not do before my return home from 

Coul. I attribute the great good health enjoyed 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 135 

by the crew of his Majesty's ship Valorous, when 
on the West India station, during the period I 
had the honor of commanding her, to the follow- 
ing causes. 1st, To the keeping the ship perfectly 
dry and clean ; 2dly, To habituating the men to the 
wearing of flannel next the skin ; 3dly, To the pre- 
caution 1 adopted, of giving each man a propor- 
tion of his allowance of cocoa before he left the 
ship in the morning, either for the purpose of 
watering,' or any other duty he might be sent 
upon ; and, 4thly, To the cheerfulness of the crew. 
1 The Valorous sailed from Plymouth on the 24th 
December, 1823, having just returned from the 
coast of Labrador and Newfoundland, where she 
had been stationed two years, the crew, including 
officers, amounting to 150 men. I had ordered 
the purser to draw two pairs of flannel drawers, 
;and two shirts extra for each man, as soon as I 
knew that our destination was the West Indies ; 
and, on our sailing, I issued two of each to every 
man and boy in the ship, making the officers of 
each division responsible for the men of their res- 
pective divisions wearing these flannels during the 
day and night ; and, at the regular morning nine 
o'clock musters, I inspected the crew personally ; 
for you can hardly conceive the difficulty I have 
had in forcing some of the men to use flannel at 
first ; although I never yet knew one who did not, 
from choice, adhere to it, when once fairly adopt- 
ed. The only precaution after this, was to see 
that, in bad weather, the watch, when relieved, 



136 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

did not turn in in their wet clothes, which the 
young hands were apt to do, if not looked after ; 
and their flannels were shifted every Sunday. 

' Whenever fresh beef and vegetables could be 
procured at the contract price, they were always 
issued in preference to salt provision. Lime 
juice was issued whenever the men had been 
fourteen days on ship's provisions ; and the crew 
took their meals on the main deck, except in 
very bad weather. 

6 The quarter and main decks were scrubbed with 
sand and ^yater, and w r et holy stones, every morn- 
ing at daylight. The lower deck, cock-pit, and 
store-rooms were scrubbed every day after break- 
fast, with dry holy stones and hot sand, until 
quite white, the sand being carefully swept up, 
and thrown overboard. The pump-well was also 
swabbed out dry, and then scrubbed with holy 
stones and hot sand ; and here, as well as in ev- 
ery part of the ship which was liable to damp, 
Brodiestoves were constantly used, until every 
appearance of humidity vanished. The lower 
deck and cock-pit were washed once every week 
in dry weather ; but Brodiestoves were constantly 
kept burning in them, until they were quite dry 
again. 

'The hammocks were piped up, and in the net- 
tings, from 7 a. m. until dusk, when the men of 
each watch took down their hammocks alternate- 
ly, by which means, only one-half of the ham- 
mocks being down at a time, the tween decks 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 137 

were not so crowded, and the watch relieved was 
sure of turning into a dry bed on going below. 
The bedding was aired every week, once at least. 
The men were not permitted to go on shore in 
the heat of the sun, or where there was a proba- 
bility of their getting spirituous liquors; but all 
hands were indulged with a run on shore, when 
out of reach of such temptation. 

1 1 was employed on the coast of Caraccas, the 
West India Islands, and Gulf of Mexico ; and, in 
course of service, I visited Trinidad, Margarita, 
Cocha, Cumana, Nueva Barcelona, Laguira, Porto 
Cabello, and Maracaibo, on the coast of Carac- 
cas ; all the West India Islands, from Tobago to 
Cuba, both inclusive ; as also, Caragao and Aru- 
ba, and several of those places repeatedly ; also 
to Vera Cruz and Tampico, in the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, which you will admit must have given a trial 
to the constitutions of my men, after two years 
amongst the icebergs of the Labrador, without an 
intervening summer between that icy coast and 
the coast of Caraccas ; yet I arrived in England 
on June 24th, without having buried a single man 
or officer belonging to the ship, or indeed having 
a single man on the sick list ; from which I am 
satisfied that a dry ship will always be a healthy 
one in any climate. When in command of the 
Recruit, of 18 guns, in the year 1809, I was sent 

to Vera Cruz, where I found the 46, the 

42, the 18, and gun-brig ; 

we were joined by the 36, and the 

12* 



138 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

18. During the period we remained at anchor 
(from 8 to 10 weeks), the three frigates, lost from 

30 to 50 men each, the brigs 16 to 18, the 

most of her crew, with two different commanders ; 
yet the Recruit, although moored in the middle 
of the squadron, and constant intercourse held 
with the other ships, did not lose a man, and had 
none sick. Now, as some of these ships had 
been as long in the West Indies as the Recruit, 
we cannot attribute her singularly healthy state 
to seasoning, nor can I to superior cleanliness, 
because even the breeches of the carronades, and 

all the pins, were polished bright in both 

and , which was not the case with the Re- 
cruit. Perhaps her healthy state may be attribut- 
ed to cheerfulness in the men ; to my never al- 
lowing them to go on shore in the morning, on an 
empty stomach ; to the use of dry sand and holy- 
stone for the ship ; to never working them in the 
sun; perhaps to accident. Were I asked my 
opinion, I would say that I firmly believe that 
cheerfulness contributes more to keep a ship's 
company healthy, than any precaution that can 
be adopted ; and that, with this attainment, com- 
bined with the precautions I have mentioned, I 
should sail for the West Indies, with as little 
anxiety as I would for any other station. My 
Valorous fellows were as cheerful a set as I ever 
saw collected together.' 

Suppose that two gentlemen were to ascend one 
of the Scottish mountains, in a hot summer day, 






FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 139 

and to arrive at the top, bathed in perspiration, 
and exhausted with fatigue. That one of them 
knew intimately the physical and organic laws, 
and that, all hot and wearied as he was, he should 
button up his coat clos-er about his body, wrap a 
handkerchief about his neck, and continue walk- 
ing, at a quick pace, round the summit, in the full 
blaze of the sun. That the other, ignorant of 
these laws, should eagerly run to the base of a 
projecting cliff; stretch himself at full length on 
the turf, under its refreshing shade ; open his 
vest to the grateful breeze ; and, in short, give 
himself up entirely to the present luxuries of cool- 
ness and repose ; — the former, by warding off the 
rapid chill of the cool mountain air, would de- 
scend with health unimpared ; while the latter 
would carry with him, to a certainty, the seeds of 
rheumatism, consumption, or fever, from permit- 
ting perspiration to be instantaneously checked, 
and the surface of the body to be cooled with an 
injurious rapidity. I have put these cases hypo- 
thetically, because, although I have seen and ex- 
perienced the benefits of the former method, I have 
not directly observed the opposite. No season, 
however, passes in the Highlands, in which some 
tragedy of the latter description does not occur; 
and, from the minutest information that I have 
been able to obtain, the causes have been such 
as are here described. 

I shall conclude these examples by a case 
which is illustrative of the points under consider- 



140 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

ation, and which I have had too good an opportu- 
nity of observing in all its stages. 

An individual in whom it was my duty as well 
as pleasure, to be greatly interested, had resolved 
on carrying Mr Owen's views into practical effect, 
and got an establishment set agoing on his prin- 
ciples, at Orbiston, in Lanarkshire. The labor 
and anxiety which he underwent at the commence- 
ment of the undertaking, gradually impaired an 
excellent constitution ; and, without perceiving 
the change, he, by way of setting an example of 
industry, took to digging with the spade, and ac- 
tually worked for fourteen days at this occupation, 
although previously unaccustomed to labor. This 
produced haemoptysis. Being unable now for bo- 
dily exertion, he gave up his whole time to direct- 
ing and instructing the people, about 250 in num- 
ber, and for two or three weeks spoke the whole 
day, the effusion from his lungs continuing. Na- 
ture rapidly sunk under this irrational treatment ; 
and at last he came to Edinburgh for medical ad- 
vice. When the structure and uses of his lungs 
were explained to him, and when it was pointed 
out that his treatment of them had been equally 
injudicious as if he had thrown lime or dust into 
his eyes, after inflammation, he was struck with 
the extent and consequences of his own ignorance, 
and exclaimed, How greatly he would have been 
benefited if one month of the five years which he 
had been forced to spend in a vain attempt at ac- 
quiring a mastery over the Latin tongue, had been 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 141 

dedicated to conveying to him information con- 
cerning the structure of his body, and the causes 
which preserve and impair its functions. He had 
departed too widely from the organic laws to 
admit of an easy return ; he was seized with in- 
flammation of the lungs, and with great difficulty 
got through that attack; but it impared his con- 
stitution so grievously, that he died, after a linger- 
ing illness of eleven months. He acknowledged, 
however, even in his severest pain, that he suffered 
under a just law. The lungs, he saw, were of the 
first-rate importance to life, and their proper treat- 
ment was provided for by this tremendous punish- 
ment, inflicted for neglecting the conditions requi- 
site to their health. Had he given them rest, and 
returned to obedience to the organic law, at the 
first intimation of departure from it, the door stood 
wide open and ready to receive him ; but, in utter 
ignorance, he persevered for weeks in direct op- 
position to these conditions, till the fearful result 
ensued. 

This last case affords a striking illustration of 
the independence of the different institutions of 
the Creator, and of the necessity of obeying all 
of them, as the only condition of safety and enjoy- 
ment. The individual here alluded to, was deeply 
engaged in a most benevolent and disinterested 
experiment for promoting the welfare of his fellow 
creatures; and superficial observers would say 
that this was just an example of the inscrutable 
decrees of Providence, which visited him with 



142 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

sickness, and ultimately with death, in the very 
midst of his most virtuous exertions. But the in- 
stitutions of the Creator are wiser than the imagi- 
nations of such men. The first principle on which 
existence on earth, and all its advantages depend, 
is obedience to the physical and organic laws. The 
benevolent Owenite neglected these, in his zeal 
to obey the moral law ; and, if it were possible to 
dispense with the one, by obeying the other, the 
whole theatre of man's existence would speedily 
become deranged, and involved in inexplicable 
disorder. 

Having traced bodily sufferings, in the case of 
individuals, to neglect of, or opposition to, the 
organic laws, by their progenitors or by them- 
selves, I next advert to another set of calamities, 
that may be called social miseries, and which ob- 
viously spring from the same causes ; but of which 
latter fact complete evidence was not possessed 
until Phrenology was discovered. And, first, in 
regard to evils of a domestic nature : — One fertile 
source of unhappiness arises from persons uniting 
in marriage whose tempers, talents, and disposi- 
tions do not harmonize. If it be true that natural 
talents and dispositions are connected by the Cre- 
ator with particular configurations of brain, then 
it is obviously one of His institutions that, in form- 
ing a compact for life, these should be attended 
to.* If we imagine an individual endowed with 

* See Appendix, Note 2. 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 143 

the splendid cerebral developement of Raphael, 
under a mere animal impulse, uniting himself for 
life with a female, possessing a brain like that of 
Mary Macinnes,* which by no possibility, could 
sympathise with his, this proceeding would be as 
direct an obstacle to happiness, as if a man were 
to surround himself with ice to remove sensations 
of cold. Until Phrenology was discovered, no natu- 
ral index to mental qualities, that could be practi- 
cally relied on, was possessed, and each individual 
was left to his own sagacity in directing his con- 
duct; but the natural law never bended one iota to 
accommodate itself to that state of ignorance. The 
Creator having bestowed on mankind faculties 
fitted to discover Phrenology, having constituted 
them so that their greatest enjoyment should con- 
sist in activity, framed his institutions in such a 
way as to confer happiness when they were dis- 
covered, and observed, and to carry punishment 
when unknown and infringed, as an arrangement 
at once benevolent and wise for the race. If it 
be the fact, that natural talents and dispositions 
are indicated by cerebral developement ; and if an 
individual, after this truth reaches his mind, shall 
form a connexion fitted to occasion him sorrow, 
it is obvious he must do so from one of two causes, 
either from contempt of the effects of developement 
of brain, and a secret belief that he may evade its 
consequences, which is just contempt of an or- 

* Casts of these heads are sold in the shops, and will be found in 
many Phrenological collections. 



144 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

ganic law, and disbelief in its consequences ; or, 
secondly, from the predominance of avarice, or 
some animal or other feeling precluding his yield- 
ing obedience to what he sees to be an institution 
of the Creator. In either case, he must abide the 
consequences ; and although these may be griev- 
ous, they cannot be complained of as unjust. In 
the play of the Gamester, Mrs Beverly is repre- 
sented as a most excellent wife, acting habitually 
under the guidance of the moral sentiments and 
intellect ; but she is married to a being who, 
while he adores her, reduces her to beggary and 
misery. His sister utters an exclamation to this 
effect : — Why did just Heaven unite such an angel 
to so heartless a thing ! The parallel of this case 
occurs too often in real life; only it is not 'just 
Heaven ' that makes such matches, but ignorant 
and thoughtless human beings, who imagine them- 
selves absolved from all obligation to study and 
obey the natural laws of Heaven, as announced 
in the general arrangement of the universe. Phre- 
nology will put it in the power of mankind to 
mitigate these evils, when they choose to adopt 
its dictates as a practical rule of conduct. 

The justice and benevolence of rendering the 
individuals themselves unhappy who neglect this 
great institution of the Creator, become more 
striking when in the next place, we consider the 
effects, by the organic law, of such conduct on 
the children of these ill-assorted unions. 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 145 

Physiologists, in general, are agreed, that a 
vigorous and healthy constitution of body in the 
parents, communicates existence, in the most per- 
fect state, to the offspring,* and many observers 
of mankind, as well as medical authors, have re- 
marked, also, the transmission, by hereditary de- 
scent, of mental talents and dispositions. 

Dr King, in speaking of the fatality which at- 
tended the House of Stuart, says, 'If I were to 
ascribe their calamities to another cause (than 
an evil fate), or endeavour to account for them 
by any natural means, I should think they were 
chiefly owing to a certain obstinacy of temper, 
which appears to have been hereditary and inhe- 
rent in all the Stuarts, except Charles II.' 

It is well known that the caste of the Brahmins 
is the highest in point of intelligence as well as 
rank of all the castes in Hindostan ; and it is 
mentioned by the missionaries as an ascertained 
fact, that their children are naturally more acute, 
intelligent, and docile, than the children of the 
inferior castes, age and other circumstances be- 
ing equal. 

Dr Gregory, in treating of the temperaments 
in his Conspectus Medicince Theoretics, says, 
' Hujusmodi varietates non corporis modo, verum 
et animi quoque, plerumque congenita, nonnun- 

* Very young hens lay small eggs; but a breeder of fowls will 
never set these to be hatched, because the animals produced would 
be feeble and imperfectly developed. They select the largest and 
freshest eggs, and endeavour to rear the healthiest stock possible. 

13 



146 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

quam haereditariae, observantur. Hoc modo pa- 
rentes saepe in proles reviviscunt ; certe parenti- 
bus liberi similes sunt, non vultum modo et cor- 
poris formam, sed animi indolem, et virtutes, et 
vitia. Imperiosa gens Claudia diu Romae floruit, 
impigra, ferox, superba ; eadem illachrymabilem 
Tiberium, tristissimum tyrennum, produxit; tan- 
dem in immanem Caligulam, et Claudium, et 
Agrippinam, ipsumque demum Neronem, post sex- 
centos annos, desitura.' *— Cap. i. sect. 16. 

Phrenology reveals the principle on which these 
phenomona take place. Mental talents and dis- 
positions are determined by the size and constitu- 
tion of the brain. The brain is a portion of our 
organised system, and as such, is subject to the 
organic laws, by one of which its qualities are 
transmitted by hereditary descent. This law, how- 
ever faint or obscure it may appear in individual 
cases, becomes absolutely undeniable in nations. 
When we place the collection of Hindoo, Charib, 
Negro, New Holland, North American, and Euro- 
pean skulls, possessed by the Phrenological Socie- 
ty, in juxtaposition, we perceive a national form 
and combination of organs in each actually ob- 
truding itself upon our notice, and corresponding 
with the mental characters of the respective tribes; 
the cerebral developement of one tribe is seen to 

* Parents frequently live again in their offspring. It is quite cer- 
tain that children resemble their parents, not only in countenance 
and the form of their body, but also in their mental dispositions, in 
their virtues and vices, &c. 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 147 

differ as widely from that of another, as the Eu- 
ropean mind does from that of the New Holland- 
er. Here, then, each Hindoo, Chinese, New Hol- 
lander, Negro, and Charib, obviously inherits from 
his parents a certain general type of head ; and 
so does each European. If, then, the general 
forms and proportions are thus so palpably trans- 
mitted, can we doubt that the individual varieties 
follow the same rule, modified slightly by causes 
peculiar to the parents of the individual ? The 
differences of national character are equally con- 
spicuous as those of national brains, and it is sur- 
prising how permanently both endure. It is ob- 
served by an author in the Edinburgh Review, 
that 'the Vicentine district is, as every one knows, 
and has been for ages, an integral part of the 
Venetian dominions, professing the same religion, 
and governed by the same laws, as the other con- 
tinental provinces of Venice ; yet the English 
character is not more different from the French, 
than that of the Vicentine from the Paduan ; 
while the contrast between the Vicentine and his 
other neighbour, the Veronese, is hardly less re- 
markable.'— No. lxxxiv. p. 459. 

If, then, form, size, and constitution of brain, 
are transmitted from parents to children, if these 
determine natural mental talents and dispositions, 
which in their turn exercise the greatest influence 
over the happiness of individuals through the 
whole of life, it becomes extremely important to 
discover according to what laws this transmis- 



148 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

sion takes place. Three principles present them- 
selves to our consideration, at the first aspect of 
the question. Either, in the first place, the con- 
stitution and qualities of brain, which the parents 
themselves inherit at birth, are transmitted abso- 
lutely, so that the children, sex following sex, are 
exact copies, without variation or modification, of 
the one parent or the other ; or, secondly, the natu- 
ral and inherent qualities of the father and moth- 
er combine, and are transmitted in a modified 
form to the offspring; or, thirdly, the qualities of 
the children are determined jointly by the consti- 
tution of the stock, and by the faculties which 
predominate in power and activity in the parents, 
at the particular time when the organic existence 
of each child commences. 

Experience shows that the first cannot be the 
law ; for, as often mentioned, a real law of nature 
admits of no exceptions, and it is well established, 
that the minds of children are not exact copies, 
without variation or modification, of those of the 
parents, sex following sex. Neither can the se- 
cond be the law, because it is equally certain that 
the minds of children, although sometimes, are not 
always, in talents and disposition, perfect modifi- 
cations of those of the father and mother. If 
this law prevailed, no child would be a copy of 
the father, none a copy of the mother, nor of any 
collateral relation, but each would be invariably 
a compound of the two parents, and all the chil- 
dren would be exactly alike, sex only excepted. 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 149 

Experience shows, that this cannot be the law. 
What, then, does experience say to the third idea, 
that the mental character of each child is deter- 
mined by the particular qualities of the stock, 
combined with those which predominate in the 
parents, when its existence commenced. 

I have already adverted to the influence of the 
stock, and shall now illustrate that of the con- 
dition of the parents, when existence is commu- 
nicated. 

A strong illustration, in the case of the lower 
animals, appeared in the Edinburgh Review, No. 
lxxxiv. p. 457. 

* Every one conversant with beasts,' says the 
reviewer, * knows, that not only their natural, but 
that many of their acquired qualities, are trans- 
mitted by the parents to their offspring. Perhaps 
the most curious example of the latter fact may 
be found in the pointer. 

' This animal is endowed with the natural in- 
stinct of winding game, and stealing upon his 
prey, which he surprises, having first made a 
short pause, in order to launch himself upon it 
with more security of success. This sort of semi- 
colon in his proceedings, man converts into a full 
stop, and teaches him to be as much pleased at 
seeing the bird or beast drop by the shooter's 
gun, as at taking it himself. The staunchest dog 
of this kind, and of the original pointer, is of 
Spanish origin, and our own, is derived from this 
race, crossed with that of the foxhound, or other 
13* 



150 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

breed of dog, for the sake of improving his speed, 
This mixed and factitious race, of course, natu- 
rally partakes less of the true pointer character ; 
that is to say, is less disposed to stop, or at least 
he makes a shorter stop at game. The factitious 
pointer is, however, disciplined, in this country, 
into staunchness ; and, what is most singular, 

THIS QUALITY IS, IN A GREAT DEGREE, INHERITED 

by his puppy, who may be seen earnestly standing 
at swallows or pigeons in a farm-yard. For in- 
tuition, though it leads the offspring to exercise 
his parent's faculties, does not instruct him how 
to direct them. The preference of his master 
afterwards guides him in his selection, and teaches 
him what game is better worth pursuit. On the 
other hand, the pointer of pure Spanish race, un- 
less he happen to be well broke himself, which in 
the south of Europe seldom happens, produces a 
race which are all but unteachable, according to 
our notions of a pointer's business. They will 
make a stop at their game, as natural instinct 
prompts them, but seem incapable of being drilled 
into the habits of the animal, which education 
has formed in this country, and has rendered, as I 
have said, in some degree, capable of transmitting 
his acquirements to his descendants. 

' Acquired habits are hereditary in other ani- 
mals besides dogs. English sheep, probably from 
the greater richness of our pastures, feed very 
much together ; while Scotch sheep are obliged 
to extend and scatter themselves over their hills, 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 151 

for the better discovery of food. Yet the English 
sheep, on being transferred to Scotland, keep their 
old habit of feeding in a mass, though so little 
adapted to their new country ; so do their de- 
scendants ; and the English sheep is not thorough- 
ly naturalized into the necessities of his place till 
the third generation. The same thing may be 
observed as to the nature of his food, that is ob- 
served in his mode of seeking it. When turnips 
were introduced from England into Scotland, it 
was only the third generation which heartily 
adopted this diet, the first having been starved 
into an acquiescence in it.' 

In these instances, long continued impressions 
on the parents appear to have at last effected 
change of disposition in the offspring. 

' We have seen,' says an author whom I have 
already quoted, 'how wonderfully the be€ works — 
according to rules discovered by man thousands 
of years after the insect had followed them with 
perfect accuracy. The same little animal seems 
to be acquainted with principles of which we are 
still ignorant. We can, by crossing, vary the 
forms of cattle with astonishing nicety ; but we 
have no means of altering the nature of an ani- 
mal, once born, by means of treatment and feed- 
ing. This power, however, is undeniably pos- 
sessed by the bees. When the queen-bee is lost, 
by death or otherwise, they choose a grub from 
among those who are born for workers ; they 
make three cells into one, and, placing the grub 



152 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

there, they build a tube round it ; they afterwards 
build another cell, of a pyramidal form, into which 
the grub grows : they feed it with peculiar food, 
and tend it with extreme care. It becomes, when 
transformed from the worm to the fly, not a work- 
er, but a queen-bee.' — Objects, Advantages, and 
Pleasures of Science, p. 33. It is difficult to con- 
ceive that man will ever possess such a power as 
this last. 

Man, however, as an organized being, is subject 
to laws similar to those which govern the organi- 
zation of the lower animals. Dr Pritchard, in 
his Researches into the Physical History of Man- 
kind, has brought forward a variety of interesting 
facts and opinions on this subject of transmission 
of hereditary qualities in the human race. He 
says, ' Children resemble, in feature and consti- 
tution, both parents, but, I think, more generally 
the father. In the breeding of horses and oxen, 
great importance is attached, by experienced pro- 
pagators, to the male. In sheep, it is commonly 
observed that black rams beget black lambs. In 
the human species, also, the complexion chiefly 
follows that of the father ; and I believe it to be 
a general fact, that the offspring of a black father 
and white mother is much darker than the progeny 
of a white father and a black mother.' — Vol. ii. p. 
551. These facts appear to me to be referable 
to both causes. The stock must have had some 
influence, but the mother, in all these cases, is not 
impressed by her own color, because she does not 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 153 

look on herself; while the father's complexion 
must strikingly attract her attention, and may, in 
this way, give the darker tinge to the offspring.* 

Dr Pritchard states the result of his investi- 
gations to be, First, That the organization of the 
offspring is always modelled according to the 
type of the original structure of the parent ; and, 
Secondly, ' That changes, produced by external 
causes in the appearance or constitution of the 
individual are temporary ; and, in general, ac- 
quired characters are transient ; they terminate 
with the individual, and have no influence on the 
progeny.' — Vol. ii. p. 536. He supports the first 
of these propositions by a variety of facts occur- 
ring ' in the porcupine family,' ' in the hereditary 
nature kj£ cumpiexion,' and, ' in the growth of su- 
pernumerary fingers or toes, and corresponding 
deficencies.' ' Maupertuis has mentioned this 
phenomenon ; he assures us, that there were 
two families in Germany, who have been distin- 
guished for several generations by six fingers on 
each hand, and the same number of toes on each 
foot,' &c. He admits, at the same time, that the 
second proposition is of more difficult proof, and 
that an opinion contrary to it ' has been maintain- 
ed by some writers, and a variety of singular facts 
have been related in support of it.' But many of 
these relations, as he justly observes, are obviously 
fables. 

* Black hens lay dark-colored eggs, 



154 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

In regard to the foregoing propositions, I would 
observe, that a manifest distinction exists between 
transmission of monstrosities, or mutilations, which 
constitute additions to, or abstractions from, the 
natural lineaments of the body, and transmission 
of a mere tendency in particular organs to a 
greater or less developement of their natural 
functions. This last appears to me to be influ- 
enced by the state of the parents, at the time 
when existence is communicated to the offspring. 
On this point Dr Pritchard says, { The opinion 
which formerly prevailed, and which has been 
entertained by some modern writers/ among whom 
is Dr Darwin, that at the period when organiza- 
tion commences in the ovum, that is, at or soon 
after the time of conception, the structure of the 
foetus is capable of undergoing modification from 
impressions on the mind or senses of the parent, 
does not appear altogether so improbable. It is 
contradicted, at least, by no fact in physiology. 
It is an opinion of very ancient prevalence, and 
may be traced to so remote a period, that its rise 
cannot be attributed to the speculations of phi- 
losophers, and it is difficult to account for the 
origin of such a persuasion, unless we ascribe it 
to facts which happened to be observed.' p. 556. 

A striking and undeniable proof of the effect on 
the character and dispositions of children, pro- 
duced by the form of brain transmitted to them 
by hereditary descent, is to be found in the pro- 
geny of marriages between Europeans, whose 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 155 

brains possess a favorable developement of the 
moral and intellectual organs, and Hindoos, and 
native Americans, whose brains are inferior. All 
authors agree, and report the circumstance as 
singularly striking, that the children of such 
unions are decidedly superior in mental qualities 
to the native, while they are still inferior to the 
European parent. Captain Franklin says, that 
the half-bred American Indians ' are upon the 
whole a good looking people ; and, where the 
experiments have been made, have shown much 
expertness in learning, and willingness to be 
taught ; they have, however, been sadly neglect- 
ed.' p. 86. He adds, ' It has been remarked, I 
do not know with what truth, that half breeds 
show more personal courage than the pure breeds.' 
Captain Basil Hall, and other writers on South 
America, mention that the offspring of native 
American and Spanish parents, constitute the 
most active, vigorous, and powerful portion of 
the inhabitants of these countries ; and many of 
them rose to high commands during the revolu- 
tionary war. So much is this the case in Hin- 
dostan, that several writers have already pointed 
to the mixed race there, as obviously destined to 
become the future sovereigns of India. These 
individuals inherit from the native parent a cer- 
tain adaptation to the climate, and from the 
European parent a higher developement of brain* 
the two combined constituting their superiority. 



156 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND 

Another example of the same law occurs in 
Persia. In that country, it is said that the cus- 
tom has existed for ages among the nobles, of 
purchasing beautiful female Circassian captives, 
and forming alliances with them as wives. It is 
ascertained that the Circassian form of brain 
stands comparatively high in the developement 
of the moral and intellectual organs.* And it is 
mentioned by some travellers, that the race of 
nobles in Persia is the most gifted in natural 
qualities, bodily and mental, of any class of that 
people ; a fact diametrically opposite to that 
which takes place in Spain, and other European 
countries, where the nobles intermarry constantly 
with each other, and set the organic laws alto- 
gether at defiance. 

The degeneracy and even idiocy of some of the 
noble and royal families of Spain and Portugal, 
from marrying nieces, and other near relations, is 
well known ; and defective brains, in all these 
cases, are observed. 

The father of Napoleon Bonaparte, says Sir 
Walter Scott, ' is stated to have possessed a 
very handsome person, a talent for eloquence, 
and a vivacity of intellect, which he transmitted 
to his son.' ' It was in the middle of civil discord, 

* In Mr W. Allan's picture of the Circassian Captives, the 
form of the head is said to be a copy from nature, taken by that 
artist, when he visited the country. It is engraved by Mr James 
Stewart with great beauty and fidelity, and may be consulted as 
an example of the superiority of Circassian developement of the 
brain. 



FROM INFRINGEMENT OF ORGANIC LAWS. 157 

fights, and skirmishes, that Charles Bonaparte 
married L^titia Ramolini, one of the most beau- 
tiful young women of the island, and possessed of 
a great deal of firmness of character. She par- 
took of the dangers of her husband during the 
years of civil war, and is said to have accompa- 
nied him on horseback on some military expedi- 
tions, or perhaps hasty flights, shortly before her 
being delivered of the future Emperor.' — Life of 
Napoleon Bonaparte, vol. iii» p- 6. 

The murder of Davip Rizzio was perpetrated 
by armed nobles, with many circumstances of vio- 
lence and terror, in the presence of Mary, Queen 
of Scotland, shortly before the birth of her son, 
afterwards James the First of England. The con- 
stitutional liability of this monarch to emotions of 
fear, is recorded as a characteristic of his mind ; 
and it has even been mentioned that he started in- 
voluntarily at the sight of a drawn sword. Queen 
Mary was not deficient in courage, and the Stu- 
arts, both before and after James the First, were 
distinguished for this quality ; so that he was a 
marked exception to the dispositions of his family. 
Napoleon and James form striking contrasts ; and 
it may be remarked that the mind of Napoleon's 
mother appears to have risen to the danger to 
which she was exposed, and braved it ; while the 
circumstances in which Queen Mary was placed, 
were calculated to inspire her with fear alone. 

Further evidence of the same law may still be 
mentioned. Es^uirol, the celebrated French 
14 



158 ORGANIC LAWS. 

medical writer, in adverting to the causes of mad- 
ness, mentions that many children whose exist- 
ence dated from periods when the horrors of the 
French Revolution were at their height, turned 
out subsequently to be weak, nervous, and irrita- 
ble in mind, extremely susceptible of impressions, 
and liable, by the least extraordinary excitement, 
to be thrown into absolute insanity. Again, in a 
case which fell under my observation, the father 
of a family was sick, had a partial recovery, but 
relapsed, declined, and in two months died. Se- 
ven months after his death, a son was born, of the 
full age ; and the origin of whose existence was 
referable to the period of the partial recovery. 
At that time, and during the subsequent two 
months, the faculties of the mother were in the 
highest state of excitement, in ministering to her 
husband, to whom she was greatly attached $ and, 
after his death, the same excitement continued 
to operate, for she was then loaded with the 
charge of a numerous family, but not depressed; 
for her circumstances were comfortable. The 
child is now more than ten years old ; and, while 
his constitution is the most delicate, his devel- 
opement of the mental organs, and the natural 
activity of these, is decidedly the greatest of the 
family. Another illustration of the same law is 
found in the fact, that, when two parties marry 
very young, the eldest of their children generally 
inherits a less favorable developement of the 
moral and intellectual organs, than those pro- 



TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 159 

duced in more mature age, — which is in exact 
correspondence with the doctrine, that the animal 
faculties in men, in general, are most vigorous in 
early life, and will then be most readily trans- 
mitted to offspring. Indeed, it appears difficult 
to account for the wide varieties in the form of 
the brain in children of the same family, unless 
on the principle, that the organs which predomi- 
nate in activity and vigour in the parents, at the 
time when existence is communicated, determine 
the tendency of corresponding organs to develope 
themselves largely in the children. If this is 
really the law of nature, as there is great reason 
for believing, then parents, in whom combative- 
ness and destructiveness are in habitual activity, 
will transmit these organs, in a state of high de- 
velopement and excitement, to their children; and 
those in whom the moral and intellectual organs 
exist in supreme vigour, will transmit these in 
greatest perfection. 

This view is in harmony with the fact that chil- 
dren generally, although not universally, resemble 
the parents in their mental qualities ; because the 
largest organs being naturally the most active, the 
general and habitual state of the parents will be 
strongly marked by those which predominate in 
size in their own brains ; and on the principle 
of predominance in activity and energy causing 
the transmission of similar qualities to the off- 
spring, the children will, in this way, very gener- 
ally resemble the parents. But they will not 



160 ORGANIC LAWS. 

always do so ; because, even Mary Macinnes, 
in whom the moral and intellectual organs were 
extremely deficient, might have been exposed to 
external influences which, for the time being, 
might have excited them to unwonted vivacity; 
and, according to the rule, as now explained, a 
child, dating its existence from that period, might 
have inherited a higher organization of brain than 
her own. Or, a person with a very excellent mo- 
ral developement, might, by some particular oc- 
currence, have his animal propensities roused to 
unwonted vigour, and his moral sentiments thrown, 
for the time, into the shade ; and any offspring 
connected with that condition, would prove infe- 
rior to himself in the developement of the moral 
organs, and greatly surpass him in the size of 
those of the propensities. 

I do not present these views as ascertained 
phrenological science, but as inferences strongly 
supported by facts, and consistent with known 
phenomena. If we suppose them to be true, 
they will greatly strengthen the motives for pre- 
serving the habitual supremacy of the moral sen- 
timents and intellect, when, by doing so, im- 
proved moral and intellectual capacities may be 
conferred on offspring. If it be true that this 
lower world, so far as man is concerned, is framed 
to harmonize with the supremacy of the higher 
faculties of the mind, what a noble prospect would 
this law open up of the possibility of man ulti- 
mately becoming capable of placing himself more 



TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 161 

fully in accordance with the Divine institutions, 
than he has hitherto been able to accomplish ; 
and, in consequence, of reaping numberless en- 
joyments that appear destined for him by his Cre- 
ator, and avoiding thousands of miseries that now 
render his life a series of calamities. The views 
here expounded also harmonize with the second 
principle of this "Essay, namely, That, as activity 
in the faculties is the fountain of enjoyment, the 
whole constitution of nature is designedly framed 
to call on them for ceaseless exertion. What 
scope for observation, reflection, the exercise of 
moral sentiments, and regulating of animal im- 
pulse, does not this picture of nature present ! 

I cordially agree, however, with Dr Pritch- 
ard, that this subject is still involved in very 
great obscurity. ' We know not, 5 says he, f by 
what means any of the facts we remark are ef- 
fected ; and the utmost we can hope to attain, 
is, by tracing the connexion of circumstances, 
to learn from what combinations of them we 
may expect to witness particular results.' — Vol. 
ii. p. 542. But much of the darkness may be 
traced to the past ignorance of mankind concern- 
ing the functions of the brain. If we consider 
that it has all along been the most important 
organ of our system ; that, from its office, mental 
impressions must almost necessarily have exercis- 
ed a powerful influence over the developement of 
its parts, and that the relative size of these deter- 
mines the predominance of particular talents and 
14* 



162 ORGANIC LAWS. 

dispositions ; but, nevertheless, that all past obser- 
vations have been conducted without the know- 
ledge of these principles ; it will not appear 
marvellous that merely confusion and contradic- 
tion have existed in the results drawn. At the 
present moment, accordingly, almost all that phre- 
nologists can pretend to accomplish, is, to point 
out the mighty void ; to offer an exposition of its 
causes ; and to state such inferences as their own 
very limited observations have hitherto enabled 
them to deduce. Far from pretending to be in 
possession of certain and complete knowledge on 
this subject, I am inclined to think, that, although 
every conjecture now hazarded were true, several 
centuries of observation will probably be required 
to render the principles completely practical. At 
present we have almost no information concern- 
ing the effects, on the children, of different tem- 
peraments, of different combinations in the cere- 
bral organs, of differences of age, &c. in the 
parents. 

It is astonishing, however, to what extent mere 
pecuniary interests excite men to investigate and 
observe the Natural Laws, and how small an in- 
fluence moral and rational considerations exert in 
leading them to do so. Before a common insur- 
ance company will undertake the risk of paying 
£100, on the death of an individual, they require 
the following questions to be answered by credible 
and intelligent witnesses : 

' 1. How long have you known Mr A. B. ? 



TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 163 

' 2. Has he had the gout ? 

6 3. Has he had a spitting of blood, asthma, 
consumption, or other pulmonary complaint? 

t 4. Do you consider him at all predisposed to 
any of these complaints ? 

' 5. Has he been afflicted with fits, or mental 
derangement ? 

' 6. Do you think his constitution perfectly 
good, in the common acceptation of the term ? 

'7. Are his habits in every respect strictly regu- 
lar and temperate ? 

1 8. Is he at present in good health ? 
' 9. Is there any thing in his form, habits of liv- 
ing, or business, which you are of opinion may 
shorten his life ? 

1 10. What complaints are his family most sub- 
ject to ? 

'11. Are you aware of any reason why an insur- 
ance might not with safety be effected on his 
life?' 

A man and woman about to marry, have in the 
general case, the health and happiness of five or 
more human beings depending on their attention 
to consideration, essentially the same as the fore- 
going, and yet how much less scrupulous are they 
than the mere speculators in money ? 

There is no moral difficulty in admitting and 
admiring the wisdom and benevolence of the 
institution, by which good qualities are transmit- 
ted from parents to children ; but it is frequently 
held as unjust to the latter, that they should in- 



164 ORGANIC LAWS. 

herit parental deficiencies, and so be made to suffer 
for sins which they did not commit. In solving 
this difficulty, I must again refer to the suprema- 
cy of the moral sentiments, as the theory of the 
Constitution of the world. The animal propensi- 
ties are all selfish, and regard only the immediate 
and apparent interest of the individual ; while the 
higher sentiments delight in that which communi- 
cates the greatest quantity of enjoyment to the 
greatest number. Now, let us suppose the law of 
hereditary descent to be abrogated altogether, 
that is to say, that each individual of the race at 
birth were endowed with fixed natural qualities, 
without the slightest reference to what his parents 
had been, or done ; — this form of constitution would 
obviously cut off every possibility of improvement 
in the race. Every phrenologist knows, that the 
New Hollanders, Charibs, and other savage tribes, 
are distinguished by great deficiencies in the moral 
and intellectual organs.* If, however it be true, 
that considerable developement of intellectual 
organs is indispensable to the comprehension of 
science, and the practice of virtue, it would, on 
the present supposition, be impossible to raise the 
New Hollanders, as a people, one step higher in 
capacity for intelligence and virtue than they now 
are. We might cultivate each generation up to 
the limit of its powers, but there the improvement, 
and a low one it would be, would stop; for the next 

* This fact is demonstrated by specimens in most Phrenological 
Collections. 



TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 165 

generation, being produced with brains equally de- 
ficient in the moral and intellectual regions, no 
principle of increasing amelioration would exist. 
The same remarks are applicapable to every tribe 
of mankind. If we assume modern Europeans as 
the standard, then, if the law of hereditary de- 
scent were abrogated, every deficiency that at 
this moment is attributable to imperfect or dis- 
proportionate developement of brain, would be 
irremediable, and continue as long as the race 
existed. Each generation might be cultivated 
till the summit level of its capacities was attain- 
ed, but there each succeeding generation would 
remain. When we contrast with this prospect 
the very opposite effects flowing from the law of 
hereditary transmission of qualities in an increas- 
ing ratio, the whole advantages are at once per- 
ceived to be on the side of the latter constitution. 
According to this rule, the children of the indi- 
viduals who have obeyed the organic, the moral, 
and the intellectual laws, would start from the 
highest level of their parents, not only in acquir- 
ed knowledge, but in consequence of that very 
obedience, they would inherit an enlarged de- 
velopement of the moral and intellectual organs, 
and thereby enjoy an increasing capability of dis- 
covering and obeying the Creator's institutions. 
This improvement, will, no doubt, have its limits ; 
but it may probably extend to that point at which 
man will be capable of placing himself in harmony 
with the natural laws. The effort necessary to 



166 ORGANIC LAWS. 

maintain himself there, will still provide for the 
activity of his faculties. 

2dly, We may suppose the law of hereditary 
descent to be limited to the transmission of good, 
&nd abrogated as to the transmission of bad quali- 
ties ; and it may be thought that this arrangement 
would be more benevolent and just. There are 
objections to this view, however, which do not oc- 
cur at once to the mind. We see as matter of 
fact, that a vicious and debased parent is actually 
defective in the moral and intellectual organs. 
Now, if his children should take up exactly the 
same developement as himself, this would be 
transmission of imperfections, which is the very 
point objected to ; or, if he were to take up a 
developement fixed by nature, and not at all refer- 
able to that of the parent ; this would render the 
whole race stationary in their first condition, 
without the possibility of improvement in their 
capacities, which also we have seen would be an 
evil greatly to be deprecated. 

3dly. The bad developement might be supposed 
to transmit, by hereditary descent, a good devel- 
opement ; but this would set at nought the su- 
premacy of justice and benevolence ; it would 
render the consequences of contempt for, and vio- 
lation of the divine laws, and of obedience to them, 
in this particular, precisely alike. The debauchee, 
the cheat, the murderer, and the robber, would, 
according to this view, be able to look upon the 
prospects of their prosperity, with the same confi- 



TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 167 

dence in their welfare and happiness, as the pious 
and intelligent Christian, who had sought to know 
God and to obey his institutions during his whole 
life. Certainly no individual, in whom the higher 
sentiments prevail, will for a moment regard this 
imagined change as any improvement on the Cre- 
ator's arrangements. What a host of motives to 
moral and religious conduct would at once be 
withdrawn, were such a spectacle of divine gov- 
ernment exhibited to the mind. In proportion as 
the brain is improved, the aptitude of man for dis- 
covering and obeying the natural laws will be in- 
creased. For example, it appears to me that the 
native American savages, and native New Hol- 
landers, cannot, with their present brains, adopt 
European civilization. The reader will find in 
the Phrenological Collections specimens of their 
skulls, and, on comparing them with those of 
Europeans, he will observe that, in the former, the 
organs of reflecting intellect, Ideality, Conscien- 
tiousness, and Benevolence, are greatly inferior in 
size to the same organs in the latter. If, by obey- 
ing the organic laws, the moral and intellectual 
organs of these savages could be considerably en- 
larged, they would desire civilization, and would 
adopt it when offered. If this view be well found- 
ed, all means used for their cultivation, which are 
not calculated at the same time to improve their 
cerebral organization, will be limited in their 
effects by the narrow capacities attending their 
present developement. In youth, all the organs 



168 ORGANIC LAWS. 

of the body are more susceptible of modification 
than in advanced age ; and hence the effects 
of education on the young may arise from the 
greater susceptibility of the brain to impressions 
at that period than later. 

4thly. It may be supposed that human happiness 
would have been more completely secured, by en- 
dowing all individuals at birth with that degree 
of developement of the moral and intellectual or- 
gans, which would have best fitted them for dis- 
covering and obeying the Creator's institutions, 
and by preventing all aberrations from this stand- 
ard ; just as the lower animals appear to have re- 
ceived instincts and capacities, adjusted with the 
most perfect wisdom to their conditions. Two re- 
marks occur on this supposition. First ; We are not 
competent at present to judge correctly how far 
the developement actually bestowed on the human 
race, is, or is not, wisely adapted to their circum- 
stances ; for there may, by possibility, be depart- 
ments in the great system of human society, exact- 
ly suited to all existing forms of brain, not imper- 
fect through disease, if our knowledge were suffi- 
cient to discover them. The want of a natural 
index to the mental dispositions and capacities of 
individuals, and of a philosophical theory of the 
constitution of society, has hitherto precluded the 
possibility of arriving at sound conclusions on this 
question. It appears to me probable, that, while 
there may be great room for improvement in the 
talents and dispositions of vast numbers of individ- 



TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 169 

uals, the imperfections of the race in general may 
not be so great, as we, in our present state of ig- 
norance of the aptitudes of particular persons for 
particular situations, are prone to infer. But, se- 
condly, on the principle that activity in the facul- 
ties is the fountain of enjoyment, it may be con- 
sidered whether additional motives to the exercise 
of the moral and intellectual powers, and, conse- 
quently, greater happiness, are not conferred by 
leaving men, within certain limits, to regulate the 
talents and tendencies of their descendants, than 
by endowing each individual with the best quali- 
ties, independently of the conduct of his parents. 
On the whole, therefore, there seems reason for 
concluding, that the actual institution, by which 
both good and bad qualities* are transmitted, is 
fraught with higher advantages to the race, than 
the abrogation of the law of transmission altogeth- 
er ; or than the supposed change of it, by which 
bad men would transmit good qualities to their 
children. The actual law, when viewed by the 
moral sentiments and intellect, both in its princi- 
ples and consequences, appears bepeficial and ex- 
pedient. When an individual sufferer, therefore, 

* In using the popular expressions ' good qualities' and < bad qual- 
ities,' I do not mean to insinuate, thai any of the tendencies bestow- 
ed on man are essentially bad in themselves. Destructiveness and 
Acquisitiveness, for example, are, when properly directed, unques- 
tionably good ; but they become the sources of evil, when their or- 
gans are too large, in proportion to those of the moral sentiments and 
intellect. By bad qualities, therefore, I always mean either disease, 
or unfavorable proportions among the different organs. 
15 



170 ORGANIC LAWS. 

complains of its operation, he regards it through 
the animal faculties alone; his self-love is annoy- 
ed, and he carries his thoughts no further. He 
never stretches his mind forward to the conse- 
quences to mankind at large, if the law which 
grieves him were reversed. The animal faculties 
regard nothing beyond their own immediate and 
apparent interest, and they do not even discern it 
correctly ; for no arrangement that is beneficial 
for the race can be injurious to individuals, if its 
operations in regard to them were distinctly trac- 
ed. The abrogation of the rule, therefore, under 
which they complain, would, we may be certain, 
bring ten thousand times greater evils, even upon 
themselves, than its continuance. 

On the other hand, an individual sufferer under 
a hereditary pain, in whom the moral and intellec- 
tual faculties predominate, who should see the 
principle and consequences of the institution of 
hereditary descent, as now explained, would not 
murmur at them as unjust ; he would bow with 
submission to an institution, which he perceived 
to be fraught with blessings to the race, when it 
was known and observed, and the very practice of 
this reverential acquiescence would be so de- 
lightful, that it would diminish, in~ a great de- 
gree, the severity of the evil. Besides, he would 
see the door of mercy standing widely open, and 
inviting his return ; he would perceive that every 
step which he made in his own person towards 
exact obedience to the Creator's institutions, 






TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 171 

would remove by so much the organic penalty 
transmitted through his parents' transgressions, 
and that his posterity would reap the full benefits 
of his more dutiful observance. 

It may be objected to the law of hereditary 
transmission of organic qualities, that the children 
of a blind and lame father have sound eyes and 
limbs : But, in the 1st place, these defects are 
generally the result of accident or disease, occur- 
ring either during pregnancy, or posterior to birth, 
and seldom or never the operation of nature ; and, 
consequently, the original physical principles re- 
maining entire in the constitution, the bodily im- 
perfections are not transmitted to the progeny. 
2dly. Where the defects are congenite or consti- 
tutional, it frequently happens that they are trans- 
mitted through successive generations. This is 
exemplified in deafness, in blindness, and even in 
the possession of supernumerary fingers or toes. 
The reason why such peculiarities are not trans- 
mitted to all the progeny, appears to be simply 
that, in general, only one parent is defective. If 
the father, for instance, be blind or deaf, the mother 
is generally free from that imperfection, and her 
influence naturally extends to, and modifies the 
result in, the progeny. 

If the law of hereditary transmission of mental 
qualities be, as now explained, dependent on the 
organs in highest excitement in the parents, it will 
account for the varieties, along with the general 
resemblance, that occur in children of the same 



172 ORGANIC LAWS. 

marriage. It will account also for the circum- 
stance of genius being sometimes transmitted and 
sometimes not. Unless both parents possess the 
developements and temperament of genius, the 
law would not certainly transmit these qualities to 
the children ; and even although both did possess 
these endowments, they would be transmitted only 
on condition of the parents obeying the organic 
laws, one of which forbids that excessive exertion 
of the mental and corporeal functions, which ex- 
hausts and debilitates the system ; an error almost 
universally committed by persons endowed with 
high original talent, under the present condition 
of ignorance of the natural laws, and erroneous 
fashions and institutions of society. The suppos- 
ed law would be disproved by cases of weak, im- 
becile, and vicious children, being born to parents 
whose own constitution and habits had been in the 
highest accordance with the organic, moral, and 
intellectual laws ; but no such cases have hitherto 
come under my observation. 

Further ; after birth, it is quite certain that the 
organs most active in the parents have a decided 
tendency to cause and increase in the size of cor- 
responding organs in the children, by habitually 
exciting and exercising them, which favors their 
growth. According to this law, habitual severity, 
chiding, and imperious conduct, proceeding from 
over-active Self-esteem and Destructiveness in the 
parents, rouse these faculties in the children, pro- 
duce hatred and resistance, and increase the ac- 



TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 173 

tivity of the same organs, while those of the 
moral sentiments and intellect are left in a state 
of apathy. 

Rules, however, are best taught by examples ; 
and I shall, therefore, proceed to mention some 
facts that have fallen under my own notice, or 
been communicated to me from authentic sources, 
illustrative of the practical consequences of in- 
fringing the law of hereditary descent. 

A man, aged about fifty, possessed a brain, in 
which the animal, moral, and knowing intellectual 
organs were all strong, but the reflecting weak. 
He was pious, but destitute of education; he 
married an unhealthy young woman, deficient in 
moral developement, but of considerable force of 
character ; and several children were born. The 
father and mother were far from being happy ; 
and, when the children attained to eighteen or 
twenty years of age, they were adepts in every 
species of immorality and profligacy ; they picked 
their father's pockets, stole his goods, and got 
them sold back to him, by accomplices, for mo- 
ney, which was spent in betting and cock-fighting, 
drinking, and low debauchery. The father was 
heavily grieved ; but knowing only two resources, 
he beat the children severely as long as he was 
able, and prayed for them ; his own words were, 
that ' if, after that, it pleased the Lord to make 
vessels of wrath of them, the Lord's will must 
just be done/ I mention this last observation, 
not in jest, but in great seriousness. It was im- 
15* 



174 MISERIES ARISING FROM * 

possible not to pity the unhappy father ; yet, who 
that sees the institutions of the Creator to be in 
themselves wise, but in this instance to have been 
directly violated, will not acknowledge that the 
bitter pangs of the poor old man were the conse- 
quences of his own ignorance ; and that it was an 
erroneous view of the divine administration, which 
led him to overlook his own mistakes, and to at- 
tribute to the Almighty the purpose of making 
vessels of wrath of his children, as the only expla- 
nation which he could give of their wicked dispo- 
sitions. Who that sees the cause of his misery 
must not lament that his piety should not have 
been enlightened by philosophy, and directed to 
obedience, in the first instance, to the organic in- 
stitutions of the Creator, as one of the prescribed 
conditions, without observance of which he had 
no title to expect a blessing upon his offspring. 

In another instance, a man, in whom the animal 
organs, particularly those of Combativeness and 
Destructiveness, were very large, but with a pretty 
fair moral and intellectual developement, married, 
against her inclination, a young woman, fashion- 
ably and showily educated, but with a very decid- 
ed deficiency in Conscientiousness. They soon 
became unhappy, and even blows were said to 
have passed between them, although they belong- 
ed to the middle rank of life. The mother, in 
this case, employed the children to deceive and 
plunder the father, and, latterly, spent the pro- 
duce in drink. The sons inherited the deficient 



NEGLECT OF ORGANIC LAWS IN MARRIAGE. 175 

morality of the mother, and the ill temper of the 
father. The family fireside became a theatre of 
war, and, before the sons attained majority, the 
father was glad to get them removed from his 
house, as the only means by which he could feel 
even his life in safety from their violence ; for they 
had by that time retaliated the blows with which 
he had visited them in their younger years ; and 
he stated that he actually considered his life to be 
in danger from his own offspring. 

In another family, the mother possesses an ex- 
cellent developement of the moral and intellectual 
organs, while, in the father, the animal organs pre- 
dominate in great excess. She has been the un- 
happy victim of ceaseless misfortune, originating 
from the misconduct of her husband. Some of 
the children have inherited the father's brain, and 
some the mother's ; and of the sons whose heads 
resembled the father's, several have died through 
mere debauchery and profligacy under thirty years 
of age ; whereas, those who resemble the mother 
are alive and little contaminated, even amidst all 
the disadvantages of evil example. 

On the other hand, I am not acquainted with a 
single instance in which the moral and intellectual 
organs predominated in size, in both father and 
mother, and whose external circumstances also 
permitted their general activity, in which the 
whole children did not partake of a moral and in- 
tellectual character, differing slightly in degrees 
of excellence one from another, but all present- 



176 MISERIES ARISING FROM * 

ing the decided predominance of the human over 
the animal faculties. 

There are well-known examples of the children 
of religious and moral fathers exhibiting disposi- 
tions of a very inferior description; but in all of 
these instances that I have been able to observe, 
there has been a large developement of the ani- 
mal organs in the one parent, which was just con- 
trolled, but not much more, by the moral and in- 
tellectual powers; and in the other parent, the 
moral organs did not appear to be in large pro- 
portion. The unfortunate child inherited the 
large animal developement of the one, with the 
defective moral developement of the other; and, 
in this way, was inferior to both. The way to 
satisfy one's self on this point, is to examine the 
heads of the parents. In all such cases, a large 
base of the brain, which is the region of the ani- 
mal propensities, will very probably be found in 
one or other of them. 

Another organic law of the animal kingdom de- 
serves attention ; viz. that by which marriages 
betwixt blood relations tend decidedly to the de- 
terioration of the physical and mental qualities of 
the offspring. In Spain kings marry their nieces, 
and, in this country, first and second cousins mar- 
ry without scruple ; although every philosophical 
physiologists will declare that this is in direct op- 
position to the institutions of nature. This law 
holds also in the vegetable kingdom. ' A provis- 
ion, of a very simple kind, is, in some cases, made 



NEGLECT OF ORGANIC LAWS IN MARRIAGE. 177 

to prevent the male and female blossoms of the 
same plant from breeding together, this being 
found to hurt the breed of vegetables, just as 
breeding in and in does the breed of animals. It 
is contrived, that the dust shall be shed by the 
male blossom before the female is ready to be af- 
fected by it, so that the impregnation must be per- 
formed by the dust of some other plant, and in 
this way the breed be crossed.' — Objects <^c. of 
Science, p. 33. 

On the same principle, it is found highly advan- 
tageous in agriculture not to sow grain of the 
same stock in constant succession on the same 
soil. In individual instances, if the soil and 
plants are both possessed of great vigour and the 
highest qualities, the same kind of grain may be 
reaped in succession twice or thrice, with less per- 
ceptible deterioration than where these elements 
of reproduction are feeble and imperfect ; and 
the same thing appears in the animal kingdom* 
If the first individuals connected in near relation- 
ship, who unite in marriage, are uncommonly ro- 
bust, and possess very favorably developed brains, 
their offspring may not be so much deteriorated 
below the common standard of the country as to 
attract particular attention, and the law of nature 
is, in this instance, supposed not to hold ; but it 
does hold, for to a law of nature there never is an 
exception. The offspring are uniformly inferior 
to what they would have been, if the parents had 
united with strangers in blood of equal vigour and 



178 ORGANIC LAWS. 

cerebral developement. Whenever there is any 
remarkable deficiency in parents who are related 
in blood, these appear in the most marked and 
aggravated forms in the offspring. This fact is so 
well known, and so easily ascertained, that I for- 
bear to enlarge upon it. So much for miseries 
arising from neglect of the organic laws in form- 
ing the domestic compact. 

I proceed to advert to those evils which arise 
from overlooking the operation of the same laws 
in ordinary relations of society. 

How many little annoyances arise from the mis- 
conduct of servants and dependents in various 
departments of life ; how many losses, and some- 
times ruin, arise from dishonesty and knavery in 
confidential clerks, partners, and agents. A mer- 
cantile house of great reputation, in London, was 
ruined and became bankrupt, by a clerk having 
embezzled a prodigious extent of funds, and ab- 
sconded to America ; another company in Edin- 
burgh, was talked of about a year ago, which had 
sustained a great loss by a similar piece of dis- 
honesty ; a company in Paisley was ruined by one 
of the partners having collected the funds, and 
eloped with them to the United States ; and late- 
ly, several bankers, and other persons, suffered 
severely in Edinburgh, by the conduct of an indi- 
vidual, some time connected with the public press. 
If it be true, then, that the mental qualities and 
dispositions of individuals are indicated and in- 



CHOICE OF SERVANTS, (^C 179 

fluenced by the developement of their brains, and 
that their actual conduct is the result of this de- 
velopement, operated upon by their external cir- 
cumstances, including in this latter every moral 
and intellectual influence coming from without, is 
it not obvious, that one and all of the evils here 
enumerated flowed from infringement of the natu- 
ral institutions, that is to say, from having placed 
human beings decidedly deficient in moral or in- 
tellectual qualities in situations where these were 
required in a higher degree than they possessed 
them? 

If any man were to go to sea in a paper boat, 
which the very fluidity of the element would dis- 
solve, no one would be surprised at his being 
drowned: and, in like manner, if the Creator has 
constituted the brain so as to exert a great influ- 
ence on the mental dispositions, and if, neverthe- 
less, men are pleased to treat this fact with neg- 
lect and contempt, and to place individuals, natu- 
rally deficient in the moral organs, in situations 
where a great degree of these sentiments is re- 
quired, they have no cause to be surprised if they 
suffer the penalties of their own misconduct, in 
being plundered and defrauded. 

Although I can state, from experience, that it 
is possible, by the aid of Phrenology, to select in- 
dividuals whose moral and intellectual qualities 
may be relied on, yet, the extremely limited ex- 
tent of our practical knowledge in this respect 
falls to be confessed. To be able to judge accu- 



180 ORGANIC LAWS. ,-S 

rately what combination of natural talents and dis- 
positions in an individual will best fit him for any 
given employment, we require to have seen a va- 
riety of combinations tried in that particular de- 
partment, and to have noted their effects. It is 
impossible, at least for me, to anticipate with un- 
erring certainty, what these effects will be : but I 
have ever found nature constant ; and after once 
discovering, by experience, an assortment of qual- 
ities suited to a particular duty, I have found no 
subsequent exception to the rule. Cases in which 
the predominance of particular regions of the 
brain, as the moral and intellectual, is very decid- 
ed, present fewest difficulties ; although, even in 
them, the very deficiency of animal organs may 
sometimes incapacitate an individual for important 
stations ; but where the three classes of organs, 
the animal, moral, and intellectual, are nearly in 
(equilibria, the most opposite results may ensue by 
external circumstances exciting the one or the 
other to decided predominance in activity. 

Having now adverted to calamities by external 
violence, — to bad health, — unhappiness in the do- 
mestic circle, arising from ill-advised unions, and 
viciously disposed children, — to the evils of plac- 
ing individuals, as servants, clerks, partners, pub- 
lic instructers, &c, in situations to which they 
are not suited, by their natural qualities, and trac- 
ed all of them to infringements or neglect of the 
physical or organic laws, I proceed to advert to 




CHOICE OF SERVANTS, &C. 181 

the last, and what is reckoned the greatest of all 
calamities, death, and which itself is obviously a 
part of the organic law. Baron Cuvier, after stat- 
ing that the world we inhabit was at first fluid, 
and that highly crystalline rocks were deposited 
before animal or vegetable life began, has demon- 
strated, that then came the lowest orders of zoo 
phytes and of vegetables, — next fishes and rep- 
tiles, — and trees in vast forests, giving origin to 
our present beds of coal, then quadrupeds and 
birds, and shells and plants, resembling those of 
the present aera, but all of which, as species, have 
utterly perished from the earth ; next came allu- 
vial rocks, containing bones of mammoths, &c, 
and last of all came man. (Cuvier's Preface to 
his Ossemens Fossiles, and papers by Dr Fleming 
in Chalmers' Journal.) This shews that destruc- 
tion of vegetable and animal life were institutions 
of nature before man became an inhabitant of the 
globe. It is beyond the compass of philosophy 
to explain why the world was so constituted. I 
therefore make no inquiry why death was insti- 
tuted, and refer, of course, only to the dissolution 
of organized bodies, and not at all to the state of 
the soul or mind after its separation from the body. 
These belong to Revelation. 

Let us first view the dissolution of the body ab- 
stractedly from personal considerations, as a mere 
natural arrangement. Death, then, appears to be 
a result of the constitution of all organized be- 
ings ; for the very definition of the genus, is, that 
16 



182 ORGANIC LAWS. 

the individuals grow, attain maturity, decay, and 
die. The human imagination cannot conceive 
how the former part of this series of movements 
could exist without the latter, as long as space is 
necessary to corporeal existence. If all the veg- 
etable and animal productions of nature, from 
creation downwards, had grown, attained maturi- 
ty, and there remained, this world would not have 
been capable of containing one thousandth part 
of them ; so that, on this earth, decaying and dy- 
ing appear indispensably necessary to admit of 
reproduction and growth. Viewed abstractedly, 
then, organized beings live as long as health and 
vigour continue ; but they are subjected to a pro- 
cess of decay, which impairs gradually all their 
functions, and at last terminates in their dissolu- 
tion. Now, in the vegetable world, the effect of 
this law, is, to surround us with young forests, in 
place of the monotony of everlasting stately full 
grown woods, standing forth in awful endless ma- 
jesty, without variation in leaf or bough ; — with 
the vernal bloom of the meadows, changing grace- 
fully into the vigour of summer, and the maturity 
of autumn ; — with the rose, first simply and deli- 
cately budding, next fresh and lovely in its blow, 
and then rich and luxuriant in its perfect condition. 
In short, when we advert to the law of death, as 
instituted in the vegetable organized kingdom, 
and as related to our own faculties of Ideality, 
Wonder, &c, which desire and delight in the very 
changes which death introduces, we without hesi- 



DEATH. 183 

tation exclaim, that all is wisely, admirably, and 
wonderfully made. Turning, again, to the animal 
kingdom, the same fundamental principle prevails. 
Death removes the old, the worn out, and decay- 
ed, and, in their place, the organic law introduces 
the young, the gay, and the vigorous, to tread the 
stage with increased agility and delight. 

This transfer of existence may readily be grant- 
ed to be beneficial to the young ; but, at first 
sight, it appears the opposite of benevolent to the 
old. To have lived at all, is felt as giving a right 
to continue to live ; and the question arises, how 
can the institution of death, as the result of the 
organic law, be reconciled with Benevolence and 
Justice ? 

In treating of the supremacy of the sentiments, 
I pointed out, that the grand distinction between 
them and the propensities, consist in this, that the 
former are disinterested, generous, and fond of 
the general good, and the latter altogether selfish 
in their desires. It is obvious, that death, as an 
institution of the Creator, must affect these two 
classes of faculties in the most different manner. 
The propensities, being confined in their gratifi- 
cation to self, and having no reference to the wel- 
fare of any other creature, a being endowed only 
with them and reflecting intellect, and enabled, 
by the latter, to discover death and its consequen- 
ces, would regard it as the most appalling of visi- 
tations, and would see in it only utter extinction of 
all enjoyment. The lower animals, then, whose 



184 ORGANIC LAWS. 

whole being is composed of the inferior propensi- 
ties, and several knowing faculties, would see 
death, if they could at all anticipate it, only in 
this light. So tremendously fearful would it ap- 
pear to them, as the extinguisher of every pleasure 
which they had ever felt or could conceive, that 
we may safely predicate, that the bare prospect of 
it would render their lives wretched, and that 
nothing could compensate the agonies of terror, 
with which an habitual consciousness of it would 
inspire them. But, by depriving them of reflec- 
ting organs, the Creator has kindly and effectually 
preserved them from the influence of this evil. 
He has thereby rendered them completely blind 
to its existence. There is not the least reason to 
believe, that any one of the lower animals, while 
in health and vigour, has the slightest conception 
that it is a mortal creature, any more than a tree 
has that it will die. In consequence, it lives in 
as full enjoyment of the present, as if it were as- 
sured of every agreeable sensation being eternal. 
Death always takes the individual by surprise, 
whether it comes in the form of violence, suppres- 
sing life in youth, or of slow decay by age; there- 
fore, it really operates in their case as a transfer- 
ence of existence from one being to another, with- 
out consciousness of the loss in the one which dies. 
Let us, however, trace the operation of death, in 
regard to the lower animals, a little more in 
detail. 



DEATH. 185 

It will not be disputed, that the world is calcu- 
lated to contain and support only a definite num- 
ber of living creatures, that the lower animals 
have received from nature powers of reproduction 
far beyond what is necesary to supply the waste 
of life by natural decay, and that they do not pos- 
sess intellect sufficient to restrain their numbers 
within the limits of their means of subsistence. 
Here, therefore, is an institution in which destruc- 
tion of life, to a great extent, is necessarily im- 
plied. Philosophy cannot tell why death was 
instituted at first, but, according to the views 
maintained in this Essay, we should expect to find 
it connected with, and regulated by, benevolence 
and justice ; that is to say, that it should not be 
inflicted for the sole purpose of extinguishing the 
life of individuals, to their damage, without any 
other result ; but that the general system under 
which it takes place should be, on the whole, 
favourable to the enjoyment of the race ; and 
this accordingly is the fact. Violent death, and 
the devouring of one animal by another, are not 
purely benevolent, because pure benevolence 
would never inflict pain ; but they are instances 
of destruction guided by benevolence ; that is, 
wherever death proceeds under the institutions of 
nature, it is accompanied with enjoyment or ben- 
eficial consequences to one set of animals or ano- 
ther. Herbivorous animals are exceedingly proli- 
fic, yet the supply of vegetable food is limited. 
Hence, after multiplying for a few years, extensive 
16* 






186 ORGANIC LAWS. 

starvation, the most painful and lingering of all 
deaths, and the most detrimental to the race, 
would inevitably ensue ; but carnivorous animals 
have been instituted who kill and eat them ; and 
by this means not only do carnivorous animals 
reap the pleasures of life, but the numbers of the 
herbivorous are restrained within such limits, that 
the individuals among them enjoy existence while 
they live. The destroyers, again, are limited in 
their turn : The moment they become too nume- 
rous, and carry their devastations too far their 
food fails them, and, in their conflicts for the sup- 
plies that remain, they extinguish each other, or 
die of starvation. Nature seems averse from in- 
flicting death extensively by starvation, probably 
because it impairs the constitution long before it 
extinguishes life, and has the tendency to produce 
degeneracy in the race. It may be remarked, al- 
so, speculatively, that herbivorous animals must 
have existed in considerable numbers before the 
carnivorous began to exercise their functions ; for 
many of the former must die, that one of the lat- 
ter may live ; if a single sheep and a single tiger 
had been placed together at first, the tiger would 
have eaten up the sheep at a few meals, and died 
itself of starvation, in a brief space afterwards. 
In natural decay, the organs are worn out by 
mere age, and the animal sinks into gradual in- 
sensibility', unconscious that dissolution awaits it. 
Further, the wolf, the tiger, the lion, and other 
beasts of prey, instituted by the Creator as instru- 



DEATH. 187 

ments of violent death, are provided, in addition 
to Destructiveness, with large organs of Cautious- 
ness and Secretiveness, that prompt them to steal 
upon their victims with the unexpected sudden- 
ness of a mandate of annihilation, and they are 
impelled also to inflict death in the most instan- 
taneous and least painful method ; the tiger and 
lion spring from their cover with the rapidity of 
the thunderbolt, and one blow of their tremendous 
paws, inflicted at the junction of the head with 
the neck, produces instantaneous death. The 
eagle is taught to strike its sharp beak into the 
spine of the birds which it devours, and their 
agony endures scarcely for an instant. It has been 
objected, that the cat plays with the unhappy 
mouse, and prolongs its tortures ; but the cat 
that does so, is the pampered and well fed inhab- 
itant of a kitchen; the cat of nature is too eager 
to devour, to indulge in such luxurious gratifications 
of Destructiveness and Secretiveness. It kills in 
a moment, and eats. Here, then, is actually a 
regularly organized process for withdrawing indi- 
viduals of the lower animals from existence, al- 
most by a fiat of destruction, and thereby making 
way for a succession of other occupants. 

Man is not so merciful towards the lower crea- 
tures : but he might be so. Suppose the sheep in 
the hands of man, were to be guillotined, and not 
maltreated before its execution, the creature would 
never know that it had ceased to live. And, by 
the law which I have already explained, man does 



188 ORGANIC LAWS. 

not with impunity add one unnecessary pang to 
the death of the lower animals. In the brutal 
butcher who inflicts torments on calves, sheep, and 
cattle, while driving them to the slaughter, and 
who puts them to death in the way supposed to 
be most conducive to the gratification of his Ac- 
quisitiveness, such as bleeding them to death, by 
successive stages, prolonged for days, to whiten 
their flesh, — the animal faculties of Destructive- 
ness, Acquisitiveness, Self-esteem, &c. predomi- 
nate so decidedly in activity, over the moral and 
intellectual powers, that he is necessarily exclud- 
ed from all the enjoyments attendant on the supre- 
macy of the human faculties ; he, besides, goes 
into society under the influence of the same base 
combination, and suffers at every hand animal 
retaliation, so that he does not escape with im- 
punity for his outrages against the moral law. 
Here, then, we can perceive nothing malevolent 
in the institution of death, in so far as regards the 
lower animals. A pang certainly does attend it ; 
but while Destructiveness must be recognized in 
the pain, Benevolence is equally perceptible in 
its effects. 

I mentioned formerly, that the organic law rises 
above the physical, and the moral and intellectual 
law above the organic ; and the present occasion 
affords an additional illustration of this fact. Un- 
der the physical law, no remedial process is insti- 
tuted to arrest, or restore, against the conse- 
quences of infringement. If a mirror falls, and 



DEATH. 189 

is smashed, by the physical law it remains ever 
after in fragments ; if a ship sinks, it lies still at 
the bottom of the ocean, chained down by the 
law of gravitation. Under the organic law, on 
the other hand, a distinct remedial process is 
established. If a tree is blown over, every root 
that remains in the ground will double its exer- 
tions to preserve life ; if a branch is lopped off, 
new branches will shoot out in its place ; if a leg 
in an animal is broken, the bone will reunite ; if a 
muscle is severed, it will grow together ; if an 
artery is obliterated, the neighbouring arteries 
will enlarge their dimensions, and perform its 
functions. The Creator, however, not to encour- 
age animals to abuse this benevolent institution, 
has established pain as an attendant on infringe- 
ment of the organic law, and made them suffer 
for the violation of it, even while he restores them. 
It is under this law that death has received its 
organic pangs. Instant death is not attended 
with pain of any perceptible duration ; and it is 
only when a lingering death occurs in youth and 
middle age, that the suffering is severe ; dissolu- 
tion, however, does not occur at these periods as 
a direct and intentional result of the organic laws, 
but as the consequence of infringement of them 
under the fair and legitimate operation of these 
laws, the individual whose constitution was at 
first sound, and whose life has been in accordance 
with their dictates, lives till old age fairly wears 
out his organized frame, and then the pang of 



190 ORGANIC LAWS. ** 

expiration is little perceptible.* The pains of 
premature death, then, are the punishments of 
infringement of the organic law, and the object 
of that chastisement probably is to impress upon 
us the necessity of obeying them that we may 
live, and to prevent our abusing the remedial pro- 
cess inherent to a great extent in our constitution. 
Let us now view death as an institution ap- 
pointed to man. If it be true, that the organic 
constitution of man, when sound in its elements, 
and preserved in accordance with the organic 
laws, is fairly calculated to endure in health from 
infancy to old age, and that death when it occurs 
during the early or middle periods of life, is the 
consequence of departures from the physical and 
organic laws, it follows, that, even in prema- 
ture death, a benevolent principle is discernible. 

* The following table is copied from an interesting article by Mr 
William Fraser, on the History and Constitution of Benefit or 
Friendly Societies, published in the Edinburgh New Philosophical 
Journal for October, 1827, and is deduced from Returns by Friendly 
Societies in Scotland for various years, from 1750 to 1821. It shows 
how much sickness is dependent on age. 

Average Sickness for Each Individual. 



Age. 


Weeks and 
Decimals. 


Weeks. 


Days. 


Hours. 


Proportion of Sick 
Members. 


Under 20 


0.3797 





2 


16 


1 in 136.95 


20-30 


0.5916 





4 


3 


1 ... 87.89 


30-40 


0.6865 





4 


19 


1 ... 75.74 


40-50 


1.0273 


1 





4 


1 ... 50.61 


50-60 


1.8806 


1 


6 


3 


1 ... 27.65 


60-70 


5.6337 


5 


4 


10 


1 ... 9.23 


Above 70 


16.5417 


16 


3 


19 


1 ... 3.14 



DEATH. 191 

Although the remedial process restores animals 
from moderate injuries, yet the very nature of the 
organic law must place a limit to it. If life had 
been preserved, and health restored, after the 
brain had been blown to atoms, by a bomb shell, 
as effectually as a leg that is broken, and a fin- 
ger that is cut are healed, this would have been an 
actual abrogation of the organic law; and all the 
curbs which that law imposes on the lower pro- 
pensities, and all the incitements which the ob- 
servance of it affords to the higher sentiments, 
and intellect, would have been lost. The limit, 
then, is this; that any departure from the law 
against which restoration is permitted, shall be 
moderate in extent, and shall not involve, to a 
great degree, any organ essential to life, such as 
the brain, the lungs, the stomach, or intestines. 
The very maintenance of the law, with all its ad- 
vantages, requires that restoration from grievous 
derangement of these organs should not be per- 
mitted. When we reflect on the hereditary trans- 
mission of qualities to children, we clearly per- 
ceive benevolence to the race in the institution, 
which cuts short the life of an individual in whose 
person essential organs are so deeply diseased by 
departures from the organic law, as to be beyond 
the limits of the remedial process ; for the exten- 
sion of the punishment of his errors over an in- 
numerable posterity is thereby prevented. In 
premature death, then, we see two objects accom- 
plished ; first ; the individual sufferer is with- 






192 ORGANIC LAWS. 

drawn from agonies which could serve no benefi- 
cial end to himself; he has transgressed the limits 
of recovery, and prolonged life would be protract- 
ed misery ; secondly; the race is guaranteed from 
the future transmission of his disease by heredita- 
ry descent. 

The disciple of Mr Owen, formerly alluded to, 
who had grievously transgressed the organic law, 
and suffered a punishment of equal intensity, ob- 
served, when in the midst of his agony, — fi Philo- 
sophers have urged the institution of death, as an 
argument against divine goodness, but not one of 
them could experience, for five minutes, the pain 
which I now endure, without looking upon it as a 
most merciful arrangement. I have departed 
from the natural institutions, and suffer the pun- 
ishment ; but, in death, I see only the Creator's 
benevolent hand, stretched out to terminate my ag- 
onies, when they cease to serve any beneficial 
end.' On this principle, the death of a feeble 
and sickly child is an act of mercy to it. It with- 
draws a being, in whose person the organic laws 
have been violated, from useless suffering ; cutting 
short, thereby, also, the transmission of its imper- 
fections to posterity. If, then, the organic insti- 
tutions which inflict pain and disease as punish- 
ments for transgressing them, are founded in be- 
nevolence and wisdom ; and, if death, in the ear- 
ly and middle periods of life, is an arrangement 
for withdrawing the transgressor from further suf- 
fering, after return to obedience is impossible, 









DEATH. 193 

and protecting the race from the consequences of 
his errors, it also is in itself wise and benevolent. 
This, then, leaves us only death in old age as a 
natural and unavoidable institution of the Crea- 
tor. It will not be denied, that, if old persons, 
when their powers of enjoyment are fairly exhaust- 
ed, and their cup of pleasure full, could be re- 
moved from this world, as we have supposed the 
lower animals to be, in an instant, and without 
pain or consciousness, to make way for a fresh 
and vigorous offspring, about to run the career 
which the old have terminated, there would be no 
lack of benevolence and justice in the arrange- 
ment. At present, while we live in habitual ig- 
norance and neglect of the organic institutions, 
death probably comes upon us with more pain and 
agony, even in advanced life, than might be its 
legitimate accompaniment, if we placed ourselves 
in accordance with these ; so that we are not now 
in a condition to ascertain the natural quantum of 
pain necessarily attendant on death. Judging 
from analogy, we may conclude, that the close of 
a long life, founded at first, and afterwards spent, 
in accordance with the Creator's laws, would not 
be accompanied with great organic suffering, but 
that an insensible decay would steal upon the 
senses. Be this, however, as it may, I observe, in 
the next place, that as the Creator has bestowed 
on man animal faculties that fear death, and rea- 
son that carries home to him the conviction that 
he must die, it is an interesting inquiry, Whether 
17 



194 ORGANIC LAWS. 

he has provided any natural means, of relief, from 
the consequences of this combination of terrors ? 
He has bestowed moral sentiments on man, and 
arranged the whole of his existence on the princi- 
ples of their supremacy ; and these, when duly 
cultivated and enlightened, are calculated to with- 
draw from him the terrors of death, in the same 
manner as unconsciousness of its existence saves 
the lower animals from its horrors. 

In regard to the lower animals killed by vio- 
lence, if reason sees, on the one hand, a momen- 
tary pang in parting with life, it perceives the con- 
tinued existence and enjoyment of beasts of prey, 
as an advantage attending it on the other, so that 
every animal that is devoured ministers to the con- 
tinued life of another. The process is still one of 
a transfer of existence. 

In regard to man, again, the moral sentiments 
and intellect perceive, 

1st. That Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, 
and Adhesiveness, are provided with direct ob- 
jects of gratification, in consequence of the insti- 
tution of death. If the sajne individuals had lived 
here forever, there would have been no field for 
the enjoyment that flows from the domestic union, 
and the rearing of offspring. The very institution 
of these propensities prove, that producing and 
rearing young, form part of the design of crea- 
tion ; and the successive production of young ap- 
pears necessarily to imply removal of the old. 

2dly. All the other faculties would have been 



DEATH. 195 

limited in their gratifications. Conceive, for a 
moment, how much exercise is afforded to our in- 
tellectual and moral powers, in acquiring knowl- 
edge, communicating it to the young, and in pro- 
viding for their enjoyments ; also, what a delight- 
ful exercise of the higher sentiments is implied in 
the intercourse between the aged and the young ; 
all which pleasures would have been unknown, if 
there had been no young in existence, which 
there could not have been, without a succession 
of individuals. 

3dly. Constituted as man is, the succession of 
individuals withdraws beings whose physical and 
mental constitutions have run their course, and 
become impaired in sensibility, and substitutes, in 
their place, fresh and vigorous minds and bodies, 
far better adapted for the enjoyment of creation. 

4thly. If I am right in the position, that the or- 
ganic laws transmit, in an increasing ratio, the 
qualities most active in the parents to their off- 
spring, the law of succession provides for a far 
higher degree of improvement in the race than 
could ever have been reached by the permanency 
of a single generation. 

Let us inquire, then, how the moral sentiments 
are affected by death in old age, as a natural in- 
stitution. 

Benevolence, glowing with a disinterested de- 
sire for the diffusion and boundless increase of 
enjoyment, utters no complaint against death in 
old age, as a transference of existence from a be- 



196 ORGANIC LAWS. 

ing impaired in its capacity for usefulness and 
pleasure, to one fresh and vigorous in all its pow- 
ers, and fitted to carry forward, to a higher point 
of improvement, every beneficial measure pre- 
viously begun. Conscientiousness, if thoroughly 
enlightened, perceives no infringement of justice 
in a guest, satiated with enjoyment, being called 
on to retire from the banquet, to permit a stranger 
with a keener and more youthful appetite to par- 
take ; and Veneration, when instructed by intel- 
lect that this is the institution of the Creator, and 
made acquainted with its objects, bows in humble 
acquiescence to the law. Now, if these powers 
have acquired, in any individual, that complete 
supremacy which they arje clearly intended to hold, 
he will be placed by them as much above the ter- 
ror of death as a natural institution, as the lower 
animals are, by being ignorant of its existence. 
And unless the case were so, man would, by the 
very knowledge of death, be rendered, during his 
whole life, more miserable than they. 

In these observations, I have said nothing of 
the prospects of a future existence as a palliative 
of the evils of dissolution, because I was bound to 
regard death, in the first instance, as the result of 
the organic law, and to treat of it as such. But 
no one who considers that the prospects of a life to 
come, are directly addressed to Veneration, Hope, 
Benevolence, and Intellect, can fail to perceive 
that this consolation also is clearly founded on the 
principle, that supremacy in the sentiments is in- 



ORGANIC LAWS. 



197 



tended by the Creator to protect man from its 
terrors. 

The true view of death, then, as a natural insti- 
tution, is, that it is an essential part of the very 
system of organization; that birth, growing, and 
arriving at maturity, as completely imply decay 
and death in old age, as morning and noon imply 
evening and night, as spring and summer imply 
harvest, or as the source of a river implies a ter- 
mination of it. Besides, organized beings are 
constituted by the Creator to be the food of other 
organized beings, so that some must die that oth- 
ers may live. Man, for instance, cannot live on 
stones, or earth, or water, which are not organized, 
but on vegetable and animal substances ; so that 
death is as much, and as essentially, an inherent 
part of organization as life itself. If vegetables, 
animals, and men, had been destined for a dura- 
tion like that of the mountains, — instead of creat- 
ing a primitive pair of each, and endowing these 
with extensive powers of reproduction, so as to 
usher into existence young beings to grow up to 
maturity by insensible degrees, we may presume, 
from analogy, that the Creator would have furnish- 
ed the world with its definite complement of liv- 
ing beings, perfect at first in all their parts and 
functions, and that these would have remained, 
like hills, without dimunition, and without in- 
crease. 

To prevent, then, all chance of being misappre- 
hended, I repeat, that I do not at all allude to the 
17* 



198 OBGANIC LAWS. ^ 

state of the soul or mind, after death, but merely 
to the dissolution of organized bodies ; that, ac- 
cording to the soundest view which I am able to 
obtain of the natural law, pain and death in youth 
and middle age, in the human species, are conse- 
quences of departure from the Creator's laws; 
while death in old age, by insensible decay, is an 
essential and apparently indispensable part of the 
system of organized existence ; that this arrange- 
ment admits of the succession of individuals, sub- 
stituting the young and vigorous for the feeble 
and decayed; that it is directly the means by 
which organized beings live, and indirectly the 
means by which Amativeness, Philoprogeniti veness, 
and a variety of our other faculties obtain gratifica- 
tion ; that it admits of the race ascending to a 
great extent in the scale of improvement, both in 
their organic and mental qualities ; that the mor- 
al sentiments, when supreme in activity, and en- 
lightened by intellect, so as to perceive its design 
and consequences, are calculated to place man in 
harmony with it; while religion addresses its con- 
solation to the same faculties, and completes what 
reason leaves undone. 

If the views now unfolded be correct, death, in 
old age, will never be abolished, as long as man 
continues an organized being ; but pain and pre- 
mature death will constantly decrease, in the ex- 
act ratio of his obedience to the physical and or- 
ganic laws. It is interesting to observe, that 
there is already some evidence of this process be- 



ORGANIC LAWS. 199 

ing actually in progress. About seventy years ago, 
tables of the average duration of life, in England, 
were compiled for the use of the Life Insurance 
Companies ; and from them it appears, that the av- 
erage of life was then twentyeight years ; that is, 
1000 persons being born, and the years which each 
of them lived being added together, and divided by 
1000, gave twentyeight to each. By recent tables, 
it appears that the average is now thirtytwo years 
to each ; that is to say, by superior morality, clean- 
liness, knowledge, and general obedience to the 
Creator's institutions, fewer individuals now perish 
in infancy, youth, and middle age, than did seventy 
years ago. Some persons have said, that the differ- 
ence arises from errors in compiling the old tables, 
and that the superior habits of the people are not 
the cause. It is probable, however, that there may 
be a portion of truth in both views. There may be 
some errors in the old tables, but it is quite natu- 
ral that increasing knowledge and stricter obe- 
dience to the organic laws, should diminish the 
number of premature deaths. If this idea be cor- 
rect, the average duration of life should go on in- 
creasing ; and our successors, two centuries hence, 
may probably attain to an average of forty years, 
and then ascribe to errors in our tables our low 
average of thirtytwo.* 

* While the above paragraph was in the press, an interesting ar- 
ticle on the « Diminished Mortality in England,' appeared in the 
Scotsman newspaper, of 16th April, 1828. It coincides with the 
views of the text ; and, as it proceeds on scientific data, it is printed 
in the Appendix, No. III. 



200 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

SECT. III.- — CALAMITIES ARISING FROM INFRINGE- 
MENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 

We come now to consider the Moral Law, 
which is proclaimed by the higher sentiments and 
intellect acting harmoniously, and holding the an- 
imal propensities in subjection. In surveying the 
moral and religious codes of different nations, 
and the moral and religious opinions of different 
philosophers, every reflecting mind must have been 
struck with their diversity. Phrenology, by de- 
monstrating the differences of combination in 
their faculties, enables us to account for these va- 
rieties of sentiment. The code of morality fram- 
ed by a legislator, in whom Destructiveness, Se- 
cretiveness, Acquisitiveness, and Self-esteem were 
large, and Conscientiousness, Benevolence, and 
Veneration small, would be very different from 
one instituted by another lawgiver, in whom this 
combination was reversed. In like manner, a sys- 
tem of religion, founded by an individual, in 
whom Destructiveness, Wonder, alid Cautiousness 
were very large, and Veneration, Benevolence, 
and Conscientiousness deficient, would present 
views of the Supreme Being widely dissimilar to 
those which would be promulgated by a person in 
whom the last three faculties and intellect decid- 
edly predominated. Phrenology shews, that the 
particular code of morality and religion, which is 
most completely in harmony with the whole facul- 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 201 

ties of the individual, will necessarily appear to 
him to be the best, while he refers only to the dic- 
tates of his individual mind, as the standard of 
right and ivrong. But if we are able to show, 
that the whole scheme of external creation is ar- 
ranged in harmony with certain principles, in 
preference to others, so that enjoyment flows upon 
the individual from without, when his conduct is 
in conformity with them, and that evil overtakes 
him when he departs from them, we shall then 
obviously prove, fhat the former is the morality 
and religion established by the Creator ; and that 
individual men, who support different codes, must 
necessarily be deluded by imperfections in their 
own minds. That constitution of mind, also, may 
be pronounced to be the best, which harmonizes 
most completely with the morality and religion 
established by the Creator's arrangements. In 
this view, morality becomes a science, and depart- 
ures from its dictates may be demonstrated as 
practical follies, injurious to the real interest and 
happiness of the individual, just as errors in logic 
are capable of refutation to the understanding* 
Before we can be in a condition to perceive this, 
it is obvious that we must know, first, The nature 
of man, physical, animal, moral, and intellectual ; 
secondly, The relations of the different parts of 
that nature to each other ; and, thirdly, The rela- 
tionship of the whole to God and external objects* 
The present Essay is an attempt, (a very feeble 
and imperfect one indeed,) to arrive, by the aid of 



202 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

phrenology, at a demonstration of morality as a 
science. The interests dealt with in the investiga- 
tion are so elevating, and the effort itself is so 
delightful, that the attempt carries its own re- 
ward, however unsuccessful in its results. 

Assuming, then, that, among the faculties of the 
mind, the higher sentiments and intellect hold the 
natural supremacy, I shall endeavour to shew, that 
obedience to the dictates of these powers is re- 
warded with pleasing emotions in the mental fa- 
culties themselves, and with the most beneficial 
external consequences ; whereas disobedience is 
followed by deprivation of these emotions, by 
painful feelings within the mind, and great exter- 
nal evil. 

First. Obedience is attended by pleasing emo- 
tions in the faculties. It is scarcely necessary to 
dwell on the circumstance, that every propensity, 
sentiment, and intellectual faculty, when gratified 
in harmony with all the rest, is a fountain of plea- 
sure. How many exquisite thrills of joy arise 
from Philoprogenitiveness, Adhesiveness, Acquisi- 
tiveness, Constructiveness, Love of Approbation, 
and Self-esteem, when gratified in accordance 
with the moral sentiments; who that has ever 
poured forth the aspirations of Hope, Ideality, 
Wonder, and Veneration, directed to an object in 
whom Intellect and Conscientiousness also rejoic- 
ed, has not experienced the deep delight of such 
an exercise ? Or, who is a stranger to the grate- 
ful pleasures attending an active Benevolence ? 



# 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 203 

Turning to the intellect, again, what pleasures 
are afforded by the scenery of nature, by painting, 
poetry, and music, to those who possess the com- 
bination of faculties related to these studies ? 
And how rich a feast does not philosophy yield to 
those who possess high reflecting organs, combin- 
ed with Concentrativeness and Conscientiousness ? 
The reader is requested, therefore, to keep steadi- 
ly in view, that these exquisite rewards are attach- 
ed by the Creator to the active exercise of our 
faculties, in accordance with the moral law ; and 
that one punishment, clear, obvious, and undeni- 
able, inflicted on those who neglect or infringe 
the law, is deprivation of these pleasures. This 
is a consideration very little attended to ; be- 
cause mankind, in general, live in such habitual 
neglect of the moral law, that they have, to a very 
partial extent, experienced its rewards, and do* 
not know the enjoyment they are deprived of by 
its infringement. Before its full measure can be 
judged of, the mind must be instructed in its own 
constitution, in that of external objects, and in 
the relationship established between it and them, 
and between it and the Creator. Until a tolera- 
bly distinct perception of these truths is obtain- 
ed, the faculties cannot enjoy repose, nor act in 
full vigour or harmony : while, for example, our 
forefathers regarded the marsh fevers, to which 
they were subjected, from deficient draining of 
their fields, and the outrages on person and pro- 
perty, attendant on the wars waged by the En- 



204 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM * 

glish against the Scots, or by one feudal lord 
against another, even on their own soil, not as pun- 
ishments for particular infringements of the organ- 
ic and moral laws, to be removed by obedience to 
these laws, but as inscrutable dispensations of 
God's providence, which it behoved them meekly 
to endure, but not to avert, — so long as such no- 
tions were entertained, the full enjoyment which 
the moral and intellectual faculties were fairly 
calculated by the Creator to afford, could not be 
experienced. Benevolence would pine in dissat- 
isfaction ; Veneration would flag in its devotions, 
and Conscientiousness would suggest endless sur- 
mises of disorder and injustice in a scheme of 
creation, under which such evils occurred, and 
were left without a remedy ; the full tide of moral, 
religious, and intellectual enjoyment could not 
possibly flow, until views, more in accordance 
with the constitution and desires of the moral fa- 
culties were obtained. The same evil afflicts 
mankind still to a prodigious extent. How is it 
possible for the Hindoo, Mussulman, Chinese, or 
the native American, while they continue to wor- 
ship deities, whose qualities outrage Benevo- 
lence, Veneration, and Conscientiousness, — and 
remain in profound ignorance of almost all the 
Creator's natural institutions, in consequence of 
infringing which they suffer punishment without 
ceasing, to form even a conception of the gratifi- 
cations which the moral and intellectual nature of 
man is calculated to enjoy, when exercised in 






INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 205 

harmony with the Creator's real character and in- 
stitutions ? This operation of the moral law is 
not the less real, because many do not recognize 
it. Sight is not a less excellent gift to those 
who see, because some men born blind have no 
conception of the extent of pleasure and advan- 
tage from which the want of it cuts them off. 

The qualities manifested by the Creator may 
be inferred from the works of creation ; but it is 
obvious, that, to arrive at the soundest views, we 
would require to know his institutions thoroughly. 
To a grossly ignorant people, who suffer hardly 
from transgression of his laws, the Deity will ap- 
pear infinitely more severe and mysterious than to 
an enlightened nation who know them, avoid the 
penalties of infringement, and trace the principles 
of his government through many parts of his 
works. The character of the Divine Being, un- 
der the natural system, will thus go on rising in 
exact proportion as his works shall be understood. 
The low and miserable conceptions of God form- 
ed by the vulgar Greeks and Romans, were the 
reflections of their own ignorance of natural, 
moral, and political science. The discovery and 
improvement of phrenology must necessarily have 
a great effect on natural religion. Before phre- 
nology was known, the moral and intellectual con- 
stitution of man was unascertained ; — in conse- 
quence, the relations of external nature towards 
it could not be competently judged of ; and, while 
these were involved in obscurity, many of the 
18 



206 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

ways of Providence must have appeared mysteri- 
ous and severe, which in themselves are quite the 
reverse. Again, as bodily suffering and mental 
perplexity would bear a proportion to this igno- 
rance, the character of God would appear to the 
natural eye in that condition, much more unfavor- 
able than it will do after these clouds of darkness 
shall have passed away. 

Some persons, in their great concernment about 
a future life, are liable to overlook the practical 
direction of the mind in the present. When we 
consider the nature and objects of the mental 
faculties, we perceive that a great number of 
them have the most obvious and undeniable refer- 
ence to this life; for example, Amativeness, Philo- 
progenitiveness, Combativeness, Destructiveness, 
Acquisitiveness, Secretiveness, Cautiousness, Self- 
esteem, and Love of Approbation, with Size, Form, 
Color, Weight, Tune, Wit, and probably other 
faculties, stand in such evident relationship to 
this particular world, with its moral and physical 
arrangements, that if they were not capable of 
legitimate application here, it would be difficult 
to assign a reason for their being bestowed on us. 
We possess also Benevolence, Veneration, Hope, 
Ideality, Wonder, Conscientiousness, and Reflect- 
ing Intellect, all of which appear to be particu- 
larly adapted to a higher sphere. But the im- 
portant consideration is, that here on earth these 
two sets of faculties are combined ; and on the 
same principle that led Sir Isaac Newton to in- 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 207 

fer the combustibility of the diamond, I am dis- 
posed to expect that the external world, when its 
constitution and relations shall be sufficiently un- 
derstood, will be found to be in harmony with all 
our faculties, and of course that the character of 
the Deity, as unfolded by the works of creation, 
will more and more gratify our moral and intel- 
lectual powers, in proportion as knowledge advan- 
ces. The structure of the eye is admirably adapt- 
ed to the laws of light; that of the ear to the laws 
of sound ; that of the muscles to the laws of gravi- 
tation ; and it would be strange if our mental con- 
stitution was not as wisely adapted to the general 
order of the external world. 

This principle, then, is universal, and admits of 
no exception, That inactivity and want of power, 
in every faculty, is attended with deprivation of 
the pleasures attendant on its vivacious exercise. 
He who is so deficient in Tune that he cannot dis- 
tinguish melody, is cut off from a vast source of 
gratification enjoyed by him who possesses that 
organ vigorous and highly cultivated; and the 
same principle holds in the case of every other 
organ and faculty. Criminals and profligates of 
every description, therefore, from the very con 
stitution of human nature, are excluded from 
great enjoyments attending virtue ; and this is the 
first natural punishment to which they are inevita- 
bly liable. Persons also, who are ignorant of the 
constitutions of their own minds, and the relations 
between external objects, not only suffer many di- 



208 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

rect evils on this account; but, through the con- 
sequent inactivity of their faculties, are besides, 
deprived of many exalted enjoyments. The works 
of creation, and the character of the Deity, are 
the legitimate objects of our highest powers; and 
hence he who is blind to their qualities loses near- 
ly the whole benefit of his moral and intellectual 
existence. If there is any one to whom these 
gratifications are unknown, or appear trivial, he 
must either, to a very considerable degree, be still 
under the dominion of the animal propensities, or 
his views of the Creator's character and institu- 
tions, must not be in harmony with the natural 
dictates of the moral sentiments and intellect. 

But, in the second place, as the world is arrang- 
ed on the principle of the supremacy of the mor- 
al sentiments and intellect, observance of the 
moral law is attended with external advantages, 
and infringement of it with positive evil conse- 
quences; and, from this constitution, arises the 
second natural punishment of misconduct. 

Let us trace the advantages of obedience. — In 
the domestic circle; if we preserve habitually 
Benevolence, Conscientiousness, Veneration, and 
Intellect supreme, it is quite undeniable, that we 
shall raise the moral and intellectual faculties of 
children, servants, and assistants, to love us, and 
to yield us willing service, obedience, and aid. 
Our commands will then be reasonable, mild, and 
easily executed, and the commerce will be that of 
love. With our equals, again, in society, what 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 209 

would we not give for a friend in whom we were 
perfectly convinced of the supremacy of the sen- 
timents ; what love, confidence, and delight, would 
we not repose in him ? To a merchant, physician, 
lawyer, magistrate, or an individual in any public 
employment, how invaluable would be the habitu- 
al supremacy of the sentiments ? The Creator 
has given different talents to different individuals, 
and limited our powers, so that we execute any 
work best by confining our attention to one de- 
partment of labor, — an arrangement which amounts 
to a direct institution of separate trades and pro- 
fessions. Under the natural laws, then, the man- 
ufacturer may pursue his calling with the entire 
approbation of all the moral sentiments, for he is 
dedicating his talents to supply the wants of his 
fellow men ; and how much more successful will 
he not be, if his every wish is accompanied by 
the desire to act benevolently and honestly towards 
those who are to consume and pay for the products 
of his labor? He cannot gratify his Acquisitive- 
ness half so successfully by any other method. 
The same remark applies to the merchant, the 
lawyer, and physician. The lawyer and physician, 
whose whole spirits breathe a disinterested desire 
to consult, as a paramount object, the best inter- 
ests of their clients and patients, not only obtain 
the direct reward of gratifying their own mora 
faculties, which is no slight enjoyment, but they 
reap a positive gratification to their Self-esteem 
and Love of Approbation, in a high and well- 
18* 



210 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

founded reputation, and to their Acquisitiveness, 
in increasing emolument, not grudgingly paid, 
but willingly offered, from minds that feel the 
worth of the services bestowed. 

There are three conditions required by the mo- 
ral and intellectual law, which must all be ob- 
served to ensure its rewards ; 1st. The department 
of industry selected must be really useful to hu- 
man beings : Benevolence demands this ; 2dly. 
The quantum of labor bestowed must bear a just 
proportion to the natural demand for the commo- 
dity produced : Intellect requires this ; and, 3dly. 
In our social connexions, we must imperatively at- 
tend to the organic law, that different individuals 
possess different developements of the brain, and 
in consequence different natural talents and dis- 
positions, and we must rely on each only to the 
extent warranted by his natural endowment. 

If, then, an individual has received, at birth, a 
sound organic constitution, and favorably devel- 
oped brain, and if he live in accordance with the 
physical, the organic, the moral, and intellectual 
laws, it appears to me that, in the constitution of 
the world, he has received an assurance from the 
Creator, of provision for his animal wants, and a 
high enjoyment in the legitimate exercise of his 
various mental powers. 

I have already observed, that, before we can 
obey the Creator's institutions, we must know 
them, and that the science which teaches the phy- 
sical laws is natural philosophy ; that the organic 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 211 

laws belong to the department of anatomy and 
physiology ; and I now add, that it is the business 
of the political economist to unfold the kinds of 
industry that are really necessary to the welfare 
of mankind, and the degrees of labor that will 
meet with a just reward. The leading object of 
political economy, as a science, is to increase en- 
joyment, by directing the application of industry. 
To attain this end, however, it is obviously neces- 
sary that the nature of man, — the constitution of 
the physical world, — and the relations between 
these, should be known. Hitherto, the knowledge 
of the first of these elementary parts has been very 
deficient, and, in consequence, the whole super- 
structure has been weak and unproductive, in 
comparison of what it may become, when founded 
on a more perfect basis. Political economists 
have never dreamt, that the world is arranged on 
the principle of supremacy of the moral senti- 
ments and intellect; and, consequently, that, to 
render man happy, his leading pursuits must be 
such as will exercise and gratify these powers, and 
that his life will necessarily be miserable, if de- 
voted entirely to the production of wealth. They 
have proceeded on the notion, that the accumula- 
tion of wealth is the summum bonum ; but all his- 
tory teaches, that national happiness does not in- 
crease in proportion to national riches ; and un- 
til they shall perceive and teach, that intelligence 
and morality are the foundation of all lasting 
prosperity, they will never interest the great body 



212 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

of mankind, nor give a valuable direction to their 
efforts. 

If the views contained in the present Essay be 
sound, it will become a leading object with future 
masters in that science, to demonstrate the neces- 
sity of civilized man limiting his physical, and in- 
creasing his moral and intellectual occupations, 
as the only means of saving himself from cease- 
less punishment under the natural laws. 

The idea of men, in general, being taught nat- 
ural philosophy, anatomy, and physiology, politi- 
cal economy, and the other sciences that expound 
the natural laws, has been sneered at, as utterly 
absurd and ridiculous. But I would ask, in what 
occupations are human beings so urgently engag- 
ed, that they have no leisure to bestow on the 
study of the Creator's laws ? A course of natu- 
ral philosophy would occupy sixty or seventy 
hours in the delivery ; a course of anatomy and 
physiology the same ; and a course of phrenology 
can be delivered pretty fully in forty hours ! 
These, twice or thrice repeated, would serve to 
initiate the student so that he could afterwards 
advance in the same paths, by the aid of observa- 
tion and books. Is life, then, so brief, and are 
our hours so urgently occupied by higher and more 
important duties, that we cannot afford those pit- 
tances of time to learn the laws that regulate our 
existence ! No. The only difficulty is in obtain- 
ing the desire for the knowledge ; in seeing the 
necessity and advantage of it, and then time will 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 213 

not be wanting. No idea can be more preposter- 
ous, than that of human beings having no time to 
study and obey the natural institutions. These 
laws punish so severely, when neglected, that they 
cause the offender to lose tenfold more time in un- 
dergoing his chastisement, than would be requi- 
site to obey them. A gentleman extensively en- 
gaged in business, whose nervous and digestive 
systems have been impaired by neglect of the or- 
ganic laws, was desired to walk in the open air at 
least one hour a-day ; to repose from all exertion, 
bodily and mental, for one full hour after break- 
fast, and another full hour after dinner, because 
the brain cannot expend its energy in thinking 
and in aiding digestion at the same time ; and to 
practise moderation in diet ; which last he regu- 
larly observed ; but he laughed at the very idea 
of his having three hours a-day to spare for atten- 
tion to his health. The reply was, that the or- 
ganic laws admit of no exception, and that he 
must either obey them, or take the consequences ; 
but that the time lost by the punishment would be 
double or treble that requisite for obedience ; 
and, accordingly, the fact was so. Instead of his 
attending an appointment, it is quite usual for him 
to send a note, perhaps, at two in the afternoon, 
in these terms : — { I was so distressed with head- 
ache last night, that I never closed my eyes, and 
to-day I am still incapable of being out of bed.' 
On other occasions, he is out of bed, but apolo- 
gises for incapacity to attend to business, on ac- 



214 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

count of an intolerable pain in the region of the 
stomach. In short, if the hours lost in these pain- 
ful sufferings were added together, and distribut- 
ed over the days when he is able for duty, he 
would find them far outnumber those which 
would suffice for obedience to the organic laws, 
and with this difference in the results ; by neg- 
lect he loses both his hours and his enjoyment ; 
whereas, by obedience, he would be rewarded by 
aptitude for business, and a pleasing conscious- 
ness of existence. 

We shall understand the operation of the moral 
and intellectual laws, however, more completely, 
by attending to the evils which arise from neglect 
of them. 

As to Individuals. At present, the almost 
universal persuasion of civilized man, is, that hap- 
piness consists in the possession of wealth, power, 
and external splendor ; objects related to the ani- 
mal faculties and intellect much more than to the 
moral sentiments. In consequence, each individ- 
ual sets out in the pursuit of these as the chief 
business of his life ; and, in the ardor of the 
chase, he recognizes no limitations on the means 
which he may employ, except those imposed by 
the municipal law. He does not perceive or ac- 
knowledge the existence of natural laws, deter- 
mining not only the sources of his happiness, but 
the steps by which it may be attained. From this 
moral and intellectual blindness, merchants and 
manufacturers, in numberless instances, hasten to 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 215 

be rich beyond the course of nature ; that is to 
say, they engage in enterprises far exceeding the 
extent of their capital, or capacity ; they place 
their property in the hands of debtors, whose nat- 
ural talents and morality are so low, that they 
ought never to have been trusted with a shilling ; 
they send their goods to sea without insuring them, 
or leave them uninsured in their own warehouses ; 
they ask pecuniary accommodation from other 
merchants, to enable them to carry on their un- 
due speculations, and become security for them in 
return, and both fall in consequence of blindly 
following Acquisitiveness to extremities ; or they 
live in splendor and extravagance, far beyond 
the extent of the natural return of their capital 
and talents. In every one of these instances, the 
calamity is obviously the consequence of infringe- 
ment of the moral and intellectual law. The law- 
yer, medical practitioner, or probationer in the 
church, who is disappointed in his reward, will be 
found erroneously to have placed himself in a pro- 
fession, for which his natural talents and dispo- 
sitions did not fit him, or to have pursued his 
vocation under the guidance chiefly of the lower 
propensities, preferring selfishness to honorable re- 
gard for the interests of his employers. Want of 
success in these professions, appears to me to be 
owing, in a high degree, to three causes ; first, 
The brain being too small, or constitutionally lym- 
phatic, so that the mind does not act with suffi- 
cient energy to make an impression ; secondly, 



216 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

some particular organs indispensably requisite to 
success, being very deficient, as Language, or 
Causality, in a lawyer, the first rendering him in- 
capable of ready utterance, and the second desti- 
tute of that intuitive sagacity, which sees at a 
glance the bearing of the facts and principles 
founded on by his adversary, so as to estimate 
the just inferences that follow, and to point them 
out. A lawyer, who is weak in this power, ap- 
pears to his client like a pilot who does not know 
the shoals and the rocks. His deficiency is per- 
ceived whenever difficulty presents itself, and he 
is pronounced unsafe to take charge of great in- 
terests ; he is then passed by, and suffers the re- 
sponsibility of an erroneous choice of profession ; 
or, thirdly, Predominance of the animal and self- 
ish faculties. The client and the patient discrim- 
inate instinctively between the cold, pithless, but 
pretending manner of Acquisitiveness and Love 
of Approbation, and the unpretending, genuine 
warmth of Benevolence, Veneration, and Consci- 
entiousness ; and they discover very speedily that 
the intellect inspired by the latter sees more clear- 
ly, and manages more successfully, their interests, 
than when animated only by the former ; the vic- 
tim of selfishness either never rises, or sinks, 
wondering why his merits are neglected. 

In all these instances, the failure of the mer- 
chant, and the bad success of the lawyer, &c. are 
the consequences of having infringed the natural 
laws; so that the evil they suffer is the punish 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 217 

ment for having failed in a great duty, not only 
to society, but to themselves. 

The greatest difficulties, however, present them- 
selves, in tracing the operation of the moral and 
intellectual laws, in the wide field of social life. 
An individual may be made to comprehend how, 
if he commits an error, he should suffer a partic- 
ular punishment ; but when calamity overtakes 
whole classes of the community, each person ab- 
solves himself from all share of the blame, and 
regards himself as simply the victim of a general 
but insc/utable visitation. Let us, then, examine 
briefly the Social Law. 

In regarding the human faculties, we perceive 
that numberless gratifications spring from the so- 
cial state. The muscles of a single individual 
could not rear the habitations,- build the ships, 
forge the anchors, construct the machinery, or, 
in short, produce the countless enjoyments that 
everywhere surround us, in consequence of men 
being constituted, so as instinctively to combine 
their powers and skill, to obtain a common end. 
Here, then, are prodigious advantages resulting 
directly from the social law ; but, in the next 
place, social intercourse is the means of affording 
direct gratification to a variety of our mental fac- 
ulties. If we live in solitude, the propensities of 
Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, Adhesiveness, 
Love of Approbation, the sentiments of Benevo- 
lence, Veneration, Conscientiousness, Wonder, 
Language, and the reflecting faculties, would be 
19 



218 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM* 

deprived, some of them absolutely, and others of 
them nearly, of all opportunities of gratification. 
The social law, then, is the source of the highest 
delights of our nature, and its institution indicates 
the greatest benevolence and wisdom towards us, 
in the Creator. 

Still, however, this law does not suspend or sub- 
vert the laws instituted for man as an individual. 
If we imagine an individual to go to sea for his 
own gratification in a ship, the natural laws re- 
quire that his intellectual faculties shall be in- 
structed in navigation, also in the nature of the 
coasts and seas which he traverses ; that he shall 
know and avoid the shoals, currents, and eddies ; 
that he shall trim his canvass in proportion to the 
gaje ; and that his animal faculties shall be so 
much under subjection to his moral sentiments, 
that he shall not abandon himself to drunkenness, 
sloth, or any animal indulgence, when the natu- 
ral laws require him to be watchful at his duty. 
If he obey the natural laws, he will be safe as an 
individual ; and if he disobey them he will be 
drowned, f Now, if a crew and passengers de- 
sire to avail themselves of the social law, that is, 
to combine their powers and activity under one 
leader or chief, by doing which they may sail in 
a large ship, have ample stores of provisions, 
divide their labour, enjoy each other's society, 

* I waive at present the question of storms, which he could not 
foresee, as these fall under the head of ignorance of natural laws, 
which may be subsequently discovered. 



INFRIGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 219 

&c. ; and if at the same time they fulfil the moral 
and intellectual laws, by placing, in the situation 
of captain, an individual fully qualified for that 
duty, they will enjoy the reward in sailing safely, 
and in comfort; if they disregard these laws, and 
place an individual in charge of the ship, whose 
intellectual faculties are weak, whose animal pro- 
pensities are strong, whose moral sentiments are 
in abeyance, and who, in consequence, habitually 
neglects the natural law r s, then they will suffer 
the penalty in being wrecked. 

I know it will be objected that the crew and 
passengers do not appoint the captain ; but, in 
every case, except impressment in the British na- 
vy, they may go in, or stay out, of a particular 
ship, as they discover the captain to possess the 
natural qualities or not. This, at present, I am 
aware, ninetynine individuals out of the hundred 
never inquire iftto ; but so do ninetynine out of 
the hundred neglect many of the other natural 
laws, and suffer the penalty, because their moral 
and intellectual faculties have never yet been 
instructed in their existence and effects, or train- 
ed to observe and obey them. But they have the 
power from nature of obeying them, if properly 
taught and trained ; and, besides, I give this 
merely as an illustration of the mode of operation 
of the social law\ 

Another example may be given. By employ- 
ing servants, the labors of life are rendered less 
burdensome to the master ; but he must employ 



220 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

individuals who know the moral law, and who 
possess the desire to act under.it ;■ otherwise, as 
a punishment for neglecting this requisite, he may 
be robbed, cheated, or murdered in bed. Phre- 
nology presents the means of observing this law, 
in a degree quite unattainable without it, by the 
facility which it affords of discovering 'the natural 
talents and dispositions of individuals. 

By entering into copartnerships, merchants, 
and other persons in business, may extend their 
employment, and gain advantages beyond those 
they could reap, if labouring as individuals. But, 
by the natural law, each must take care that his 
partner knows, and is inclined to obey, the moral 
and intellectual law, as the only condition on 
which the Creator will permit him securely to 
reap the advantages of the social compact. If a 
partner in China is deficient in intellect and mo- 
ral sentiments, another in London may be utterly 
ruined. It is said that this is the innocent suf- 
fering for or along with the guilty ; but it is not 
so. It is an example of a person seeking to ob- 
tain the advantages of the social law, without 
conceiving himself bound to obey the conditions 
required by it ; the first of which is, that those 
individuals, of whose services he avails himself, 
shall observe the moral and intellectual laws. 

Let us now advert to the calamities which over- 
take whole classes of men, or communities, under 
the social law, trace their origin, and see how far 
they are attributable to infringement of the Crea- 
tor's laws. 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 221 

If I am right in representing the whole facul- 
ties of man as intended by the Creator to be gra- 
tified, and the moral sentiments and intellect, as 
the higher and directing powers, with which all 
natural institutions are in harmony ; it follows, 
that if large communities of men, in their systema- 
tic conduct, habitually seek the gratification of 
the inferior propensities, and allow either no part, 
or too small and inadequate a part, of their time 
to the regular employment of the higher powers, 
they will act in direct opposition to the natural 
institutions ; and will, of course, suffer the pu- 
nishment in sorrow and disappointment. Now, 
to confine ourselves to our own country, it is cer- 
tain that, until within these few years, the labour- 
ing population of Britain were not taught that it 
was any part of their duty, as rational creatures, 
to restrain their propensities, so as not to multi- 
ply their numbers beyond the demand for their 
labors, and the supply of food for their offspring; 
and up to the present hour this most obvious and 
important doctrine is not admitted by one in a 
thousand, and not acted upon as a practical prin- 
ciple by one in ten thousand of those whose hap- 
piness or misery depends on observance of it. 
The doctrine of Malthus, that ' population can- 
not go on perpetually increasing, without pres- 
sing on the limits of the means of subsistence, 
and that a check of some kind or other must, 
sooner or latter, be opposed to it,' just amounts to 
this, — that the means of subsistence are not sus- 
19* 



222 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM* 1 

ceptible of such rapid and unlimited increase as 
population, and in consequence that the Ama- 
tive propensity must be restrained by reason ? 
otherwise it will be checked by misery. This 
principle is in accordance with the views of hu- 
man nature maintained in this Essay, and applies to 
all the faculties ; thus Philoprogenitivenes, when 
indulged in opposition to reason, leads to spoil- 
ing children, which is, followed directly by mis- 
ery both to them and their parents. Acquisitive- 
ness, when uncontrolled by reason, leads to ava- 
rice or theft, and these again carry suffering in 
their train. 

But so far from attending to such view's, the 
lives of the inhabitants of Britain generally are 
devoted to the acquisition of wealth, of power 
and distinction, or of animal pleasure ; in other 
words, the great object of the labouring classes, is 
to live and gratify the inferior propensities ; of the 
mercantile and manufacturing population, to grat- 
ify Acquisitiveness and Self-esteem ; of the more 
intelligent class of gentlemen, to gratify Self-es- 
teem and Love of Approbation, in political, lite- 
rary, or philosophical eminence ; and of another 
portion, to gratify Love of Approbation, by su- 
premacy in fashion ; and these gratifications are 
sought by means not in accordance with the dic- 
tates of the higher sentiments, but by the joint 
aid of the intellect. and propensities. If the su- 
premacy of moral sentiment and intellect be the 
natural law, then, as often observed, every circum- 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 223 

stance connected with human life must be in har- 
mony with it; that is to say, first, After rational 
restraint on population, and with the proper use 
of machinery, such moderate labor as will leave 
ample time for the systematic exercise of the 
higher powers, will suffice to provide for human 
wants ; and, secondly, If this exercise be neg- 
lected, and the time which ought to be dedicated 
to it be employed in labor to gratify the propen- 
sities, direct evil will ensue ; and this according- 
ly appears to me to be exactly the result. 

By means of machinery, and the aids derived 
from science, the ground can be cultivated, and 
every imaginable necessary and luxury produced 
in ample abundance, by a moderate expenditure 
of labor by any population not in itself supera- 
bundant. If men were to stop whenever they had 
reached this point, and dedicate the residue of 
each day to moral and intellectual pursuits, the 
consequence would be, ready and steady because 
not overstocked, markets. Labor, pursued till 
it provided abundance, but not redundant super- 
fluity, would meet with a certain and just reward : 
and would yield also, a vast increase of happi- 
ness ; for no joy equals that which springs from 
the moral sentiments and intellect excited by the 
contemplation, pursuit, and observance, of the 
Creator's institutions. Further, morality would 
be improved ; for men being happy, would cease 
to be vicious ; and, lastly, There would be im- 
provement in the organic, moral, and intellectual 



224 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM* 

capabilities of the race; for the active moral and 
intellectual organs in the parents would increase 
the volume of these in their offspring; so that 
each generation would start not only with greater 
stores of acquired knowledge than their predeces- 
sors possessed, but with higher natural capabili- 
ties of turning these to account. 

Before merchants and manufacturers can be 
expected to act in this manner, a great change must 
be effected in their sentiments and perceptions ; 
but so was a striking revolution effected in their 
ideas and practices of the tenantry west of Edin- 
burgh, when they removed the stagnant pools be- 
tween each ridge of land, and banished ague from 
their district. If any reader will compare the 
state of Scotland during the thirteenth, fourteenth, 
and fifteenth centuries, correctly ^nd spiritedly 
represented in Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a 
Grandfather, with its present condition, in regard 
to knowledge, morality, religion, and the compar- 
ative ascendancy of the rational over the animal 
part of our nature, he will perceive so great an 
improvement in later times, that the commence- 
ment of the millennium itself, in five or six hun- 
dred years hence, would scarce be a greater ad- 
vance beyond the present, than the present is over 
the past. If the laws of the Creator be really 
what are here represented, and if they were once 
taught as elementary truths to every class of the 
community, and the sentiment of Veneration call- 
ed in to enforce obedience to them, a set of new 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 225 

motives and principles would be brought into play, 
calculated to accelerate the change ; especially if 
it were seen, what, in the next place, I proceed to 
shew, that the consequences of neglecting these 
laws are the most serious visitations of suffering 
that can well be imagined. The labouring popu- 
lation of Britain is taxed with exertion for ten, 
twelve, and some even fourteen hours a day, ex- 
hausting their muscular and nervous energy, so as 
utterly to incapacitate them, and leaving, besides, 
no leisure, for moral and intellectual pursuits. 
The consequence of this is, that all markets are 
overstocked with produce ; prices first fall ruin- 
ously low 5 the operatives are then thrown idle $ 
and left in destitution of the necessaries of life, 
until the surplus produce of their formerly exces- 
sive labors, and perhaps something more, are con- 
sumed ; after this takes place, prices rise too 
high in consequence of the supply falling rather 
below the demand ; the laborers resume their 
toil, on their former system of excessive exertion ; 
they again overstock the market, and again are 
thrown idle, and suffer dreadful misery. 

In 1825-6-7 we witnessed this operation of the 
natural laws : large bodies of starving and unem- 
ployed laborers were then supported on charity. 
How many hours did they not stand idle, and how 
much of excessive toil would not these hours have 
relieved, if distributed over the periods when they 
were overworked ? The results of that excessive 
exertion were seen in the form of untenanted 



226 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM** 

houses, of shapeless piles of goods decaying in 
warehouses, in short, in every form in which mis- 
applied industry could go to ruin. These obser- 
vations are strikingly illustrated by the following 
official report, copied from the public newspa- 
pers : 

* State of the Unemployed Operatives, resident in Edinburgh, who 

are supplied with work by a Committee, constituted for that pur- 
pose, according to a list made up on Wednesday, the 14th March, 
1827. 

* The number of unemployed operatives who have been remitted by 

the Committee for work, up to the 14th of March, are 1481 

6 And the number of cases they have rejected, after having 
been particularly investigated, for being bad characters, 

.giving in falao etatomcnts, or being only a short time OUt of 

work, &c. &c. are ------- 446 

Making together, - 1927 
4 Besides those, several hundreds have been rejected by the Com- 
mittee, as, from the applicants' own statement, they were not con- 
sidered as cases entitled to receive relief, and were not, therefore, 
remitted for investigation. 

' The wages allowed is 5s. per week, with a peck of meal to 
those who have families. Some youths are only allowed 3s. of 
wages. 

* The particular occupations of those sent to work are as follows : — 
242 masons, 634 laborers, 66 joiners, 19 plasterers, 76 sawyers, 19 
slaters, 45 smiths, 40 painters, 36 tailors, 55 shoemakers, 20 garden- 
ers, 229 various trades. Total 1481. 5 

Edinburgh is not a manufacturing city, and if 
so much misery existed in it in proportion to its 
population, what must have been the condition of 
Glasgow, Manchester, and other manufacturing 
towns ?* 

* In the Appendix, No, IV, several interesting documents are 
giyen, in further elucidation of these principles. 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 227 

Here, then, the Creator's laws shew themselves 
paramount, even when men set themselves system- 
atically to infringe them. He intended the hu- 
man race, under the moral law, not to pursue Ac- 
quisitiveness excessively, but to labor only a cer- 
tain and a moderate portion of their lives ; and 
although they do their utmost to defeat this inten- 
tion, they cannot succeed ; they are constrained 
to remain idle as many days and hours, while their 
surplus produce is consuming, as would have serv- 
ed for the due exercise of their moral and intel- 
lectual faculties and the preservation of their 
health, if they had dedicated them regularly to 
these ends from day to day, as time passed over 
their heads. But their punishment proceeds : the 
extreme exhaustion of nervous and muscular ener- 
gy, with the absence of all moral and intellectual 
excitement, create the excessive craving for the 
stimulus of ardent spirits which distinguishes the 
labouring population of the present age ; this calls 
into predominant activity the organs of the Ani- 
mal Propensities, these descend to the children by 
the law already explained ; increased crime, and 
a deteriorating population, are the results ; and a 
moral and intellectual incapacity for arresting the 
evils, becomes greater with the lapse of every 
generation. 

According to the principles of the present Es- 
say, what are called by commercial men < times of 
prosperity,' are seasons of the greatest infringe- 
ment of the natural laws, and precursors of great 



22S CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

calamities. Times are not reckoned prosper- 
ous, unless all the industrious population is em- 
ployed during the whole day, hours of eating and 
sleeping only excepted, in the production ofivealth. 
This is a dedication of their whole lives to the 
service of the propensities, and must necessarily 
terminate in punishment, if the world is constitut- 
ed on the principle of supremacy of the higher 
powers. 

This truth has already been illustrated more 
than once in the history of commerce. The fol- 
lowing is a recent example. 

By the combination laws, workmen were pun- 
ishable for uniting to obtain a rise of wages, when 
an extraordinary demand occured for their labor. 
These laws being obviously unjust, were at length 
repealed. In summer and autumn 1825, however, 
commercial men conceived themselves to have 
reached the highest point of prosperity, and the 
demand for labor was unlimited. The operatives 
availed themselves of the opportunity to better 
their condition, formed extensive combinations; 
and, because their demands were not complied 
with, struck work, and continued idle for months 
in succession. The master manufacturers clam- 
ored against the new law, and complained that 
the country would be ruined, if combinations 
were not again declared illegal, and suppressed 
by force. According to the principles of this Es- 
say, the just law must from the first have been the 
most beneficial for all parties affected by it; and 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 229 

the result amply confirmed this idea. Subsequent 
events proved that the extraordinary demand for 
laborers in 1825 was entirely factitious, fostered 
by an overwhelming issue of bank paper, much of 
which ultimately turned out to be worthless ; in 
short, that, during the combinations, the master 
manufacturers were engaged in an extensive sys- 
tem of speculative over-production, and that the 
combinations of the workmen presented a natu- 
ral check to this erroneous proceeding. The ruin 
that overtook the masters in 1826 arose from their 
having accumulated, under the influence of un- 
bridled Acquisitiveness, vast stores of commodi- 
ties which were not required by society ; and to 
have compelled the laborers, by force, to manu- 
facture more at. their bidding, would obviously 
have been to aggravate the evil. It is a well 
known fact, accordingly, that those masters whose 
operatives most resolutely refused to work, and 
who, on this account, clamored loudest against 
the law, were the greatest gainers in the end. 
Their stocks of goods were sold off at high pri- 
ces during the speculative period ; and when the 
revulsion came, instead of being ruined by the 
fall of property, they were prepared, with their 
capitals at command, to avail themselves of the 
depreciation, to make new and highly profitable 
investments. Here again, therefore, we perceive 
the law of justice vindicating itself, and benefit- 
ing by its operation even those individuals who 
blindly denounced it as injurious to their interests. 
20 



230 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM* 

A practical faith in the doctrine that the world is 
arranged by the Creator, in harmony with the 
moral sentiments and intellect, would be of un- 
speakable advantage both to rulers and subjects ; 
for they would then be able to pursue with great- 
er confidence the course dictated by moral recti- 
tude, convinced that the result would prove benefi- 
cial, even although, when they took the first step, 
they could not distinctly perceive by what means. 
In the whole system of education and treat- 
ment of the labouring population, the laws of the 
Creator, such as I have now endeavoured to ex- 
pound them, are neglected, and their moral and 
intellectual cultivation is scarcely known. The 
Schools of Art, and ' the Library of Useful Knowl- 
edge,' are laudable attempts at a better order of 
things ; and I hail with joy their increase ; but 
they too much exclude the science of human na- 
ture, and, in consequence, will long remain com- 
paratively barren. From indications which al- 
ready appear, however, I think it probable that 
the labouring classes will ere long recognise Phre- 
nology, and the natural laws, as deeply interesting 
to themselves; and whenever their minds shall be 
opened to rational views of their own constitution 
as men, and their condition as members of society, 
I venture to predict that they will devote them- 
selves to improvement, with a zeal and earnest- 
ness that in a few generations will change the as- 
pect of their class. 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 231 

The consequences of the present system of de- 
parting from the moral law, on the middle orders 
of the community, are in accordance with its ef- 
fects on the lower. Uncertain gains, continual 
fluctuations in fortune, absence of all reliance on 
moral and intellectual principles in their pursuits, 
a gambling spirit, an insatiable appetite for wealth, 
alternately extravagant joys of excessive prospe- 
rity and bitter miseries of disappointed ambition, 
render the whole lives of merchants vanity and 
vexation of spirit. Nothing is more essential to 
human happiness than fixed principles of action, 
on which we can rely for our present safety and 
future welfare ; and the Creator's laws, when seen 
and followed, afford this support and delight to 
our faculties in the highest degree. It is one, not 
of the least, of the punishments that overtake the 
middling classes for neglect of these laws, that 
they do not, as a permanent condition of mind, 
feel secure and internally at peace with them- 
selves. When the excitement of business has 
subsided, vacuity and craving are felt within. 
These proceed from the moral and intellectual fa- 
culties calling aloud for exercise ; but, through 
ignorance of their own nature, fashionable amuse- 
ments, or intoxicating liquors, are resorted to, 
and, with these, a vain attempt is made to fill up 
the void of life. I know that this class ardently 
desires a change that would remove the miseries 
described, and will zealously cooperate in the 
diffusing of knowledge, by which means alone it 
can be introduced. 



232 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM * 

The responsibility which overtakes the higher 
classes is equally obvious. If they do not engage 
in some active pursuit, so as to give scope to their 
energies, they suffer the evils of ennui, morbid ir- 
ritability, and excessive relaxation of the func- 
tions of mind and body, which carry in their train 
more suffering than is entailed even on the opera- 
tives by excessive labor. If they pursue ambition 
in the senate or the field, or in literature or philo- 
sophy, their real success is in exact proportion to 
the approach which they make to observance of 
the supremacy of the sentiments and intellect, 
Franklin, Washington, and Bolivar, may be con- 
trasted with Sheridan and Bonaparte, as illustra- 
tions. Sheridan and Napoleon did not, system- 
atically, pursue objects sanctioned by the higher 
sentiments and intellect, as the end of their exer- 
tions ; and no person, who is a judge of human 
emotions, can read their lives, and consider what 
must have passed within their minds, without 
coming to the conclusion, that, even in their most 
brilliant moments of external prosperity, the can- 
ker was gnawing within, and that there was no 
moral relish of the present, or reliance on the fu- 
ture ; but a mingled tumult of inferior propensi- 
ties and intellect, carrying with it an habitual 
feeling of unsatisfied desires. 

Let us now consider the effect of the moral law 
on national prosperity. 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 233 

If the Creator has constituted the world in har- 
mony with the dictates of the higher sentiments, 
the highest prosperity of each particular nation 
should be thoroughly compatible with that of eve- 
ry other; that is to say, England, by sedulously 
cultivating her own soil, pursuing her own cour- 
ses of industry, founding her internal institutions 
and her external relations on the principles of 
Benevolence, Veneration, and Justice, which im- 
ply abstinence from wars of aggression, from con- 
quest, and from all selfish designs of commercial 
monopoly, would be in the highest condition of 
prosperity and enjoyment that nature would admit 
of; and every step that she deviated from these 
principles, would carry an inevitable punishment 
along with it. The same statement might be 
made relative to France and every other nation. 
According to this principle, also, the Creator 
should have conferred on each nation some pecu- 
liar advantages of soil, climate, situation, or ge- 
nius, which would enable it to carry on amicable 
intercourse with its fellow states, in a beneficial 
exchange of the products peculiar to each ; so 
that the higher one rose in morality, intelligence, 
and riches, it ought to become so much the more 
estimable and valuable as a neighbour to all the 
surrounding states. This is so obviously the real 
constitution of nature, that proof of it is super- 
fluous. 

England, however, as a nation, has set this law 
at absolute defiance. She has led the way in tak- 
20* 



234 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM* 1 

ing the propensities as her guides, in founding her 
laws and Institutions on them, and in following 
them out in her practical conduct. England in- 
vented restrictions on trade, and carried them to 
the greatest height ; she conquered colonies, and 
ruled them in the full spirit of selfishness* she 
encouraged lotteries and fostered the slave trade,, 
carried paper money and th,e most avaricious spi- 
rit of manufacturing and speculating in commerce 
to their highest pitch : defended corruption in 
Parliament, distributed churches and seats on the 
bench of justice, on principles purely selfish ; all 
in direct opposition to the supremacy of the moral 
law. If the world had been created in harmony 
with predominance of the animal faculties, Eng- 
land should have been a most felicitous nation ; 
but as the reverse is the case, we should expect a 
severe national responsibility to flow from these 
departures from the divine institutions ; and griev- 
ous accordingly has been, and, I fear, will be, the 
punishment. 

The principle which regulates national respon- 
sibility is, that the precise combination of faculties 
which leads to the national transgression, carries 
in its train the punishment. Nations are under 
the moral and intellectual law, as well as individ- 
uals. A carter who half starves his horse, and 
unmercifully beats it, to supply, by the stimulus 
of pain, the vigour that nature intended to flow 
from abundance of food, may be supposed to prac- 
tise this barbarity with impunity in this world, if 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 235 

he evade the eye of Mr Martin, and that of the 
police ; but this is not the case. The hand of 
Providence reaches him by a direct punishment : 
He fails in his object, for blows cannot supply the 
vigour which, by the constitution of the horse, 
flows only from sufficiency of wholesome food. In 
his conduct, he manifests an excessive Combative- 
ness and Destructiveness, with deficient Benevo- 
lence, Veneration, Justice, and Intellect, and he 
cannot reverse this character, by merely averting 
his eyes and his hand from the horse. He carries 
these dispositions into the bosom of his family, 
and into the company of his associates, and a va- 
riety of evil consequences ensue. The delights 
that spring from active moral sentiments and in- 
tellectual powers, are necessarily unknown to 
him ; and the difference between these pleasures, 
and the sensations attendant on his moral and in- 
tellectual condition, are as great as between the 
external splendour of a king and the naked pov- 
erty of a beggar. It is true that he has never felt 
the enjoyment, and does not know the extent of 
his loss ; but still the difference exists ; we see it, 
and know that, as a direct consequence of this 
state of mind, he is excluded from a very great 
and exalted pleasure. Further; his active animal 
faculties rouse the Combativeness, Destructive- 
ness, Self-esteem, Secretiveness, and Cautious- 
ness, of his wife, children, and associates, against 
him, and they inflict on him animal punishment. 
He, no doubt, goes on to eat, drink, blaspheme, 



236 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

and abuse his horse, day after day, apparently as 
if Providence approved of his conduct ; but he 
neither feels, nor can any one who attends to his 
condition believe him to feel, happy ; he is unea- 
sy, discontented, and disliked, — all which sensa- 
tions are his punishment, and it is fairly owing to 
his own grossness and ignorance that he does not 
connect it with his offence. Let us apply these 
remarks to nations. England, for instance, under 
the impulses of an excessively strong Acquisitive- 
ness, Self-esteem, and Destructiveness, for a long 
time protected the slave trade. Now, according 
to the law which I am explaining, during the pe- 
riods of greatest sin in this respect, the same 
combination of faculties ought to be found work- 
ing most vigorously in her other institutions, and 
producing punishment for that offence. There 
ought to be found in these periods a general spir- 
it of domineering and rapacity in her public men, 
rendering them little mindful of the welfare of the 
people ; injustice and harshness in her taxations 
and public laws ; and a spirit of aggression and 
hostility towards other nations, provoking retalia- 
tion of her insults. And, accordingly, I have 
been informed, as a matter of fact, that, while 
these measures of injustice were publicly patron- 
ised by the government, its servants vied with each 
other in injustice towards it, and that its subjects 
dedicated their talents and enterprise towards cor- 
rupting its officers, and cheating it of its due. 
Every trader who was liable to excise or custom 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 237 

duties, evaded the one-half of them, and felt no 
disgrace in doing so. A gentleman, who was 
subject to the excise laws fifty years ago, describ- 
ed to me the condition of his trade at that time. 
The excise officers, he said, regarded it as an un- 
derstood matter, that at least one-half of the 
goods manufactured were to be smuggled without 
being charged'with duty ; but then, said he, ' they 
made us pay a moral and pecuniary penalty that 
was at once galling and debasing. We required 
to ask them to our table at all meals, and place 
them at the head of it in our holiday parties ; 
when they fell into debt, we were obliged to help 
them out of it ; when they moved from one house 
to another, our servants and carts were in requisi- 
tion to perform this office ; and, by way of keep- 
ing up discipline upon us, and also to make a 
show of duty, they chose every now and then to 
step in and detect us in a fraud, and get us fined ; 
if we submitted quietly, they told us that they 
would make us amends, by winking at another 
fraud ; and generally did so ; but if our indigna- 
tion rendered passive obedience impossible, and 
we spoke our mind of their character and con- 
duct, they enforced the law on us, while they re- 
laxed it on our neighbours ; and these being riv- 
als in trade, undersold us in the market, carried 
away our customers, and ruined our business. Nor 
did the bondage end here. We could not smug- 
gle without the aid of our servants ; and as they 
could, on occasion of any offence given to them- 



23S CALAMITIES ARISING FROM* 1 

selves, carry information to the head quarters of 
excise, we were slaves to them also, and were 
obliged tamely to submit to a degree of drunken- 
ness and insolence, that appears to me now per- 
fectly intolerable. Further ; this evasion and op- 
pression did us no good ; for all the trade were 
alike, and we just sold our goods so much cheap- 
er the more duty we evaded ; so that our individ- 
ual success did not depend upon superior skill and 
superior morality, in making an excellent article 
at a moderate price, but upon superior capacity 
for fraud, meanness, sycophancy, and every possi- 
ble baseness. Our lives were anything but envia- 
ble. Conscience, although greatly blunted by 
practices that were universal, and viewed as ine- 
vitable, still whispered that they were wrong ; our 
sentiments of self-respect very frequently revolted 
at the insults to which we were exposed, and 
there was a constant feeling of insecurity from the 
great extent to which we were dependent upon 
wretches whom we internally despised. When 
the government took a higher tone, and more 
principle and greater strictness in the collection 
of the duties were enforced, we thought ourselves 
ruined ; but the reverse has been the case. The 
duties, no doubt, are now excessively burdensome 
from their amount ; but that is their least evil. 
If it was possible to collect them from every tra- 
der with perfect equality, our independence would 
be complete, and our competition would be confin- 
ed to superiority in morality and skill. Matters 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 239 

are much nearer this point now than they were 
fifty years ago ; but still they would admit of con- 
siderable improvement.' The same individual 
mentioned, that, in his youth, now seventy years 
ago, the civil liberty of the people of Scotland 
was held by a weak tenure. He knew instances 
of soldiers being sent, in times of war, to the 
farm-houses, to carry off, by force, young men for 
the army ; and as this was against the law, they 
were accused of some imaginary offence, such as 
a trespass, or an assault, which was proved by 
false witnesses, and the magistrate, perfectly 
aware of the farce, and its object, threatened the 
victim with transportation to the colonies, as a 
felon, if he would not enlist ; which he, of course, 
unprotected and overwhelmed by power and injus- 
tice, was compelled to consent to. 

If the same minute representation were given 
of other departments of private life, during the 
time of the greatest immoralities on the part of 
the government, we would find that this paltering 
with conscience and character in the national 
proceedings, tended to keep down the morality of 
the people, and fostered in them a rapacious and 
gambling spirit, to which many of the evils that 
have since overtaken us have owed their origin. 

But we may take a more extensive view of the 
subject of national responsibility. 

In the American war England desired to gra- 
tify her Acquisitiveness and Self-esteem, in oppo- 
sition to Benevolence and Justice, at the expense 



240 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

of the transatlantic colonies. This roused the 
animal resentment of the latter, and the lower 
faculties of the two nations came into collision ; 
that is to say, they made war on each other ; Eng- 
land to support a dominion in direct hostility to 
the principles which regulate the moral govern- 
ment of the world, in the expectation of becom- 
ing rich and powerful by success in that enter- 
prise ; the Americans, to assert the supremacy of 
the higher sentiments, and to become free and 
independent. According to the principles which 
I am now unfolding, the greatest misfortune that 
could have befallen England would have been 
success, and the greatest advantage, failure in 
her attempt; and the result is now acknowledged 
to be in exact accordance with these views. If 
England had subdued the colonies in the Ameri- 
can war, every one must see to what an extent 
her Self-esteem, Acquisitiveness and Destructive- 
ness would have been let loose upon them; this, 
in the first place, would have roused their animal 
faculties, and led them to give her all the annoy- 
ance in their power, and the fleets and armies 
requisite to repress this spirit would have far 
counterbalanced, in expense, all the profits she 
could have wrung out of the colonists, by extor- 
tion and oppression. In the second place, the 
very exercise of these animal faculties by her- 
self, in opposition to the moral sentiments, would 
have rendered her government at home an exact 
parallel of that of the carter in his own family. 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 241 

The same malevolent principles would have over- 
flowed on her own subjects, the government 
would have felt uneasy, the people rebellious, 
discontented, and unhappy, and the moral law 
would have been amply vindicated by the suffer- 
ing which would have everywhere abounded. 
The consequences of her failure have been ex- 
actly the reverse. America has sprung up into 
a great and moral nation, and actually contrib- 
utes ten times more to the wealth of Britain, 
standing as she now does, in her natural relation 
to this country, than she ever could have done, 
as a discontented and oppressed colony. This 
advantage is reaped without any loss, anxiety, or 
expense ; it flows from the divine institutions, 
and both nations profit by and rejoice under it. 
The moral and intellectual rivalry of America, 
instead of prolonging the predominance of the 
propensities in Britain, tends strongly to excite 
the moral sentiments in her people and govern- 
ment ; and every day that we live, we are reap- 
ing the benefits of this improvement in wiser 
institutions, deliverance from endless abuses, and 
a higher and purer spirit pervading every depart- 
ment of the executive administration of the coun- 
try. Britain, however, did not escape the penalty 
of her attempt at the infringement of the moral 
laws. The pages of her history, during the 
American war, are dark With suffering and gloom, 
and at this day we groan under the debt and 
difficulties then partly incurred. 
21 



242 CALAMITIES ARISING FKOM^ 

If the world be constituted on the principles of 
the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intel- 
lect, the method of one nation seeking riches and 
power, by conquering, devastating, or obstruct- 
ing the prosperity of other states, must be essen- 
tially futile. Being in opposition to the moral 
constitution of creation, it must occasion misery 
while in progress, and can lead to no result 
except the impoverishment and mortification of 
the people who pursue it. The national debt of 
Britain has been contracted chiefly in wars, orig- 
inating in commercial jealousy and thirst of con- 
quest ; in short, under the suggestions of Com- 
bativeness, Destructiveness, Acquisitiveness, and 
Self-esteem. Did not our ancestors, therefore, 
impede their own prosperity and happiness, by 
engaging in these contests ? and have any conse- 
quences of them reached us, except the burden 
of paying nearly, thirty millions of taxes anually, 
as the price of the gratification of their propensi- 
ties ? Would a statesman, who believed in the 
doctrine of this Essay, have recommended these 
wars as essential to national prosperity ? If the 
twentieth part of the sums had been spent in 
objects recognised by the moral sentiments, for 
example, in instituting seminaries of education, 
penitentiaries, making roads, canals, public gran- 
aries, &c. &c. how different would have been the 
present condition of the country ! 

After the American followed the French revo- 
lutionary war. Opinions are at present more di- 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 243 

vided upon this subject ; but my view of it, offered 
with the greatest deference, is the following. 
When the French Revolution broke out, the do- 
mestic institutions of England were, to a consid- 
erable extent, founded and administered on prin- 
ciples in opposition to the supremacy of the sen- 
timents. A clamor was raised by the nation for 
reform of abuses. If my leading principle is 
sound, every departure from the moral law in na- 
tions, as well as in individuals, carries its punish- 
ment with it from the first hour of its commence- 
ment, till its final cessation ; and if Britain's 
institutions were then, to any extent, corrupt and 
defective, she could not too speedily have aban- 
doned them, and adopted purer and loftier ar- 
rangements. Her government, however, clung to 
the suggestions of the propensities, and resisted 
every innovation. To divert the national mind 
from causing a revolution at home, they embarked 
in a war abroad ; and, for a period of twentythree 
years, let loose the propensities on France with 
headlong fury, and a fearful perseverance. France, 
no doubt, threatened the different nations of Eu- 
rope with the most violent interference with their 
governments; a menace wholly unjustifiable, and 
that called for resistance. But the rulers of that 
country were preparing their own destruction, in 
exact proportion to their departures from the 
moral law ; and a statesman, who knew and had 
confidence in the constitution of the world, as 
now explained, could have listened to the storm 



244 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM 

in complete composure, prepared to repel actual 
aggression, and left the exploding of French in- 
fatuation to the Ruler of the Universe, in unhesi- 
tating reliance on the efficacy of his laws. But 
England preferred a war of aggression. If this 
conduct was in accordance with the sentiments, 
we should now, like America, be reaping the re- 
ward of our obedience to the moral law, and 
plenty and rejoicing should flow down our streets 
like a stream. But mark the contrast. This 
island exhibits the spectacle of millions of men, 
toiled to the extremity of human endurance, for a 
pittance scarcely sufficient to sustain life; weav- 
ers labouring for fourteen or sixteen hours a day 
for eightpence, and frequently unable to procure 
work, even on these terms ; other artisans exhaust- 
ed almost to death by laborious drudgery, who, if 
better recompensed, seek compensation and en- 
joyment in the grossest sensual debauchery, 
drunkenness, and gluttony ; master-traders and 
manufacturers anxiously labouring for wealth, now 
gay in the fond hope that all their expectations 
w r ill be realised, then sunk in deep despair by the 
breath of ruin having passed over them; land- 
holders and tenants now reaping unmeasured re- 
turns from their properties, then pining in penury, 
amidst an overflow of every species of produce; 
the government cramped by an overwhelming 
debt and the prevalence of ignorance and selfish- 
ness on every side, so that it is impossible for it to 
follow with a bold step the most obvious dictates 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 245 

of reason and justice, owing to the countless 
prejudices and imaginary interests which every- 
where obstruct the path of improvement. This 
resembles much more punishment for transgres- 
sion, than reward for obedience to the divine in- 
stitutions. 

If every man in Britain will turn his attention 
inwards, and reckon the pangs of disappointment 
which he has felt at the subversion of his own 
most darling schemes, by unexpected turns of 
public events, or the deep inroads on his happi- 
ness which such calamities, overtaking his dear- 
est relations and friends, have occasioned to him; 
the numberless little enjoyments in domestic life, 
which he is forced to deny himself, by the taxa- 
tion with which they are loaded ; the obstructions 
to the fair exercise of his industry and talents pre- 
sented by stamps, licences, excise laws, custom- 
house duties et hoc genus omne; he will discover 
the extent of responsibility attached by the Crea- 
tor to national transgressions. From my own ob- 
servation, I would say, that the miseries inflicted 
upon individuals and families, by fiscal prosecu- 
tions, founded on excise laws, stamp laws, post- 
office laws, &c. all originating in the necessity of 
providing for the national debt, are equal to those 
arising from some of the most extensive natural 
calamities. It is true, that few persons are prose- 
cuted without having offended ; but the evil con- 
sists in presenting men with enormous temptations 
to infringe mere financial regulations not always 
21* 



246 ' CALAMITIES ARISING FROM * 

in accordance with natural morality, and then in- 
flicting ruinous penalties for transgression. Men 
have hitherto expected the punishment of their 
offences in the thunderbolt, or the yawning earth- 
quake; and believed, that because the sea did 
not swollow them up, or the mountain fall upon 
them and crush them to atoms, Heaven was taking 
no cognizance of their sins; while, in point of 
fact, an omnipotent, an all-just, and an all-wise 
God, had arranged before they erred, an ample 
retribution in the very consequences of their 
transgressions. It is by looking to the principles. 
in the mind, from which transgressions flow, and 
attending to their whole operations and results, 
that we discover the real theory of the divine 
government. When men shall be instructed in 
the laws of creation, they will discriminate more 
accurately than heretofore between natural and 
factitious evils, and becomes less tolerant of the 
latter. 

* The Spaniards, under the influence of Acqui- 
sitiveness, Self-esteem, Love of Approbation, and 
a blind Veneration, conquered South America, in- 
flicted upon its wretched inhabitants the most 
atrocious cruelties, and continued to weigh, for 
three hundred years, like a moral incubus, upon 
that quarter of the globe. The responsibility now 
shews itself. By the laws of the Creator, nations 
require to obey the moral law to be happy ; that 
is, to cultivate the arts of peace, to be industri- 
ous, upright, intelligent, pious, and humane. The 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 247 

reward of such conduct is individual happiness, 
and national greatness and glory. There shall 
then be none to make them afraid. The Span- 
iards disobeyed all these laws in the conquest of 
ilmerica, they looked to rapine and foreign gold, 
and not to industry, for wealth ; this fostered ava- 
rice and pride in the government, baseness in the 
nobles, indolence, ignorance, and mental depravi- 
ty in the people ; led them to imagine happiness 
to consist, not in the exercise of the moral and 
intellectual powers, but in the gratification of all 
the inferior feelings to the outrage of the higher. 
Intellectual cultivation was utterly neglected, the 
sentiments ran astray into the regions of bigotry 
and superstition, and the propensities acquired a 
fearful ascendancy. These causes made them the 
prey of internal discord and foreign invaders ; and 
Spain, at this moment, suffers an awful respon- 
sibility.* 

* Cowper recognises these principles of divine government as 
to nations, and has embodied them in the following powerful verses : 

The hand that slew till it could slay no more, 
Was glued to the sword-hilt with Indian gore. 
Their prince, as justly seated on his throne 
As vain imperial Philip on his own, 
Tricked out of all his royalty by art, 
That stript him bare, and broke his honest heart, 
Died by the sentence of a shaven priest, 
For scorning what they taught him to detest. 
How dark the veil, that intercepts the blaze 
Of Heaven's mysterious purposes and ways ; 
God stood not, though he seemed to stand aloof ; 
And at this hour the conqueror feels the proof : 



243 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM •> 

In surveying the present aspect of Europe, we 
perceive astonishing improvements achieved in 
physical science. How much is implied in the 
mere names of the steam-engine, power-looms, 
rail-roads, steam-boats, canals, and gas-lights ; 
and yet of how much misery are several of these 
inventions at present the direct sources, in conse- 
quence of being almost exclusively dedicated to 
the gratification of the propensities. The lead- 
ing purpose to which the steam-engine in almost 
all its forms of application is devoted, is the ac- 
cumulation of wealth, or the gratification of Ac- 

The wreath he won drew down an instant curse, 
The fretting plague is in the public purse, 
The cankered spoil corrodes the pining state, 
Starved by that indolence their minds create. 

Oh ! could their ancient Incas rise again, 
How would they take up Israel's taunting strain ! 
Art thou too fallen, Iberia ? Do we see 
The robber and the murd'rer weak as we ? 
Thou that has wasted Earth, and dared despise 
Alike the wrath and mercy of the skies, 
Thy pomp is in the grave, thy glory laid 
Low in the pits thine avarice has made. 
We come with joy from our eternal rest, 
To see th' oppressor in his turn oppressed. 
Art thou the god, the thunder of whose hand 
Rolled over all our desolated land, 
Shook principalities and kingdoms down, 
And made the mountains tremble at his frown ? 
The sword shall light upon thy boasted powers, 
And waste them, as the sword has wasted ours. 
'T is thus Omnipotence his law fulfils, 
And Vengeance executes what Justice wills. 

Cowper's Poems. — Charity, p. 156. 



INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 249 

quisitiveness and Self-esteem ; and few have pro- 
posed, by its means, to lessen the hours of toil to 
the lower orders of society, so as to afford them 
opportunity and leisure for the cultivation of their 
moral and intellectual faculties, and thereby to 
enable them to render a more perfect obedience 
to the Creator's institutions. Physical has far 
outstripped moral science ; and., it appears to me, 
that, unless the lights of Phrenology open the 
eyes of mankind to the real constitution of the 
world, and at length induce them to modify their 
conduct, in harmony with the laws of the Creator, 
their future physical discoveries will tend only to 
deepen their wretchedness. Intellect, acting as 
the ministering servant of the propensities, will 
lead them only further astray. The science of 
man's whole nature, animal, moral, and intellectu- 
al, was never more required to guide him than at 
present, when he seems to wield a giant's power, 
but in the application of it to display the ignorant 
selfishness, wilfulness, and absurdity of an over- 
grown child. History has not yielded, and can- 
not yield, half her fruits, until mankind shall be 
possessed of a true theory of their own nature. 

SECT. IV. MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. 

After the intellect and moral sentiments have 
been brought to recognise the principles of the 
Divine administration, so much wisdom, benevo- 
lence, and justice, are discernible in the natural 



250 MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. 

laws, that our whole nature is meliorated in un- 
dergoing the punishments annexed to them. Pun- 
ishment endured by one individual also serves to 
warn others against transgression. These facts 
afford another proof that a grand object of the 
arrangement of creation is the improvement of 
the moral and intellectual nature of man? So 
strikingly conspicuous, indeed, is the meliorating 
influence of suffering, that many persons have 
supposed this to be the primary object for which 
it is sent ; a notion which, with great deference, 
appears to me to be unfounded in principle, and 
dangerous in practice. If evils and misfortunes 
are mere mercies of Providence, it follows that a 
headache consequent on a debauch, is not intend- 
ed to prevent a repetition of drunkenness, so much 
as to prepare the debauchee for ' the invisible 
world ;' and that shipwreck in a crazy vessel is not 
designed to render the merchant more cautious, 
but to lead him to heaven. 

It is however undeniable, that in innumerable 
instances pain and sorrow are the direct conse- 
quences of our own misconduct ; at the same 
time it is obviously benevolent in the Deity to ren- 
der it beneficial directly as a warning against fu- 
ture transgression, and indirectly as a means of 
purifying the mind ; nevertheless, if we shall ima- 
gine that in some instances it is dispensed as a di- 
rect punishment for particular transgressions, and 
in others, only on account of sin in general, and 
with the view of meliorating the spirit of the 



MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. 251 

sufferer, we shall ascribe inconsistency to the Cre- 
ator, and expose ourselves to the danger of attri- 
buting our own afflictions to his favor, and those 
of others, to his wrath ; thus fostering in our 
minds self-conceit and uncharitableness. Indivi- 
duals who entertain the belief that bad health, 
worldly ruin, and sinister accidents, befalling 
them, are not punishments for infringement of the 
laws of nature, but particular manifestations of 
the love of the Creator towards themselves, make 
slight inquiry into the natural causes of their mis- 
eries, and bestow few efforts to remove them. In 
consequence, the chastisements endured by them, 
neither correct their own conduct, nor deter oth- 
ers from committing similar transgressions. Some 
religious sects, who espouse these notions, literal- 
ly act upon them, and refuse to inoculate with the 
cow-pox to escape contagion, or take other means 
of avoiding natural calamities. Regarding these 
as dispensations of Providence, sent to prepare 
them for a future world, they conceive that the 
more of them the better. Further ; these ideas, 
besides being repugnant to the common sense of 
mankind, are at variance with the principle that 
the world is arranged so as to favor virtue and 
discountenance vice ; because favouring virtue 
means obviously that the favoured virtuous will 
positively enjoy more happiness, and, negatively, 
suffer fewer misfortunes than the vicious. The 
view, then, now advocated, appears less exception- 
able, viz. that punishment serves a double purpose, 



252 MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. 

directly to warn us against transgression ; and in- 
directly, when rightly apprehended, to subdue our 
lower propensities, and purify and vivify our moral 
and intellectual powers. 

Bishop Butler coincides in this interpretation 
of natural calamities. ' Now,' says he, ' in the 
present state, all which we enjoy, and a great 

PART OF WHAT WE SUFFER, is put in OUT power.* 

For pleasure and pain are the consequences of our 
actions ; and we are endued by the Author of our 
nature with capacities of foreseeing these conse- 
quences.' ' I know not that we have any one 
kind or degree of enjoyment, but by the means of 
our own actions. And, by prudence and care, we 
may, for the most part, pass our days in tolerable 
ease and quiet ; or, on the contrary, we may, by 
rashness, ungoverned passion, wilfulness, or even 
by negligence, make ourselves as miserable as ever 
toe please. And many do please to make them- 
selves extremely miserable ; i. e. they do what 
they knew beforehand will render them so. They 
follow those ways, the fruit of which they knew, 
by instruction, example, experience, will be dis- 
grace, and poverty, and sickness, and untimely 
death. This every one observes to be the gene- 
ral course of things ; though it is to be allowed, 
we cannot find by experience, that all our suffer- 
ings are owing to our own follies.' — Analogy, p. 
40. In accordance with this last remark, I have 



v 5 



* These words are printed in Italics in the original. 



MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. 253 

treated of hereditary diseases ; and evils result- 
ing from convulsions of physical nature may be 
added to the same class. 

It has been objected that physical punishments, 
such as the breaking of an arm by a fall, are often 
so disproportionally severe, that the Creator must 
have had some other and more important object 
in view in appointing them, than to serve as mere 
motives to physical observance ; and that that 
object must be to influence the mind of the suf- 
ferer, and to draw his attention to concerns of 
higher import. 

In answer, I remark, that the human body is 
liable to destruction by severe injuries ; and that 
the degree of suffering, in general, bears a just 
proportion to the danger connected with the 
transgression. Thus, a slight surfeit is attended 
only with headach or general uneasiness, because 
it does not endanger life ; a fall on any muscular 
part of the body is followed either with no pain, 
or only a slight indisposition, for the reason that 
it is not seriously injurious to life ; but when a leg 
or arm is broken, the pain is intensely severe, be- 
cause the bones of these limbs stand high in the 
scale of utility to man. The human body is so 
framed that it may fall nine times, and suffer little 
damage, but the tenth time a limb may be broken, 
which will entail a painful chastisement. By this 
arrangement the mind is kept alive to danger to 
such an extent, as to ensure general safety, while 
at the same time it is not overwhelmed with terror 
22 



254 ON THE MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. 

by punishments too severe and too frequently re- 
peated. In particular states of the body, a slight 
wound may be followed by inflammation and 
death ; but these are not the results simply of the 
wound, but the consequences of a previous de- 
rangement of health, occasioned by departures 
from the organic laws. 

On the whole, therefore, no adequate reason 
appears for regarding the consequences of physi- 
cal accidents in any other light than as direct 
punishments for infringement of the natural laws, 
and indirectly as a means of accomplishing moral 
and religious improvement. 



255 



CHAPTER IV. 

ON THE COMBINED OPERATION OF THE NATURAL 
LAWS. 

Having now unfolded several of the natural 
laws, and their effects, and having also attempted 
to shew that each is inflexible and independent in 
itself, and requires absolute obedience, so that a 
man who shall neglect the physical law will suffer 
the physical punishment, although he may be very 
attentive to the moral law ; that one who infringes 
the organic law will suffer organic punishment, 
although he may obey the physical law ; and that 
a person who violates the moral law will suffer 
the moral punishment, although he should observe 
the other two ; I proceed to show the mutual 
relationship between these laws, and to adduce 
some instances of their joint operation. 

The great fires in Edinburgh, in November, 
1 824, when the Parliament Square and a part of 
the High Street were consumed, will serve as one 
example. That calamity may be viewed in the 
following light: — The Creator constituted the 
countries of England and Scotland, and the Eng- 
lish and Scottish nations, with such qualities and 
relationships, that the individuals of both king- 
doms would be most happy in acting towards each 



256 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION** 

other, and pursuing their separate vocations, un- 
der the supremacy of the moral sentiments. We 
have lived to see this practised, and to reap the 
rewards of it. But the ancestors of the two na- 
tions did not believe in this constitution of the 
world, and they preferred acting on the principles 
of the propensities ; that is to say, they waged 
furious wars, and committed wasting devastations, 
on each other's properties and lives. This w r as 
clearly a violent infringement of the moral law ; 
and it is obvious from history that the two nations 
were equally ferocious, and delighted reciprocally 
in each other's calamities. One effect of it was 
to render personal safety an object of paramount 
importance. The hill on which the Old Town of 
Edinburgh is built, was naturally surrounded by 
marshes, and presented a perpendicular front, to 
the west, capable of being crowned with a castle. 
It was appropriated with avidity, and the metrop- 
olis of Scotland founded there, obviously and un- 
deniably under the inspiration purely of the 
animal faculties. It was fenced round, and ram- 
parts built to exclude the fierce warriors who 
then inhabited the south of the Tweed, and also 
to protect the inhabitants from the feudal banditti 
who infested their own soil. The space within 
the walls, however, was limited and narrow ; the 
attractions to the spot were numerous, and to 
make the most of it, our ancestors erected the 
enormous masses of high, confused, and crowded 
buildings which now compose the High Street of 



OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 257 

this city, and the wynds, or alleys, on its two 
sides. These abodes, moreover, were construct- 
ed, to a great extent, of timber, for not only the 
joists and floors, but the partitions between the 
rooms, were of massive wood. Our ancestors did 
all this in the perfect knowledge of the physical 
law, that wood ignited by fire is not only con- 
sumed itself, but envelopes in inevitable destruc- 
tion every combustible object within its influence. 
Further ; their successors, even when the necessity 
had ceased, persevered in the original error, and 
in the perfect knowledge that every year added to 
the age of such fabrics increased their liability to 
burn, they allowed them to be occupied not only 
as shops filled with paper, spirits, and other high- 
ly combustible materials, but introduced gas- 
lights, and let off the upper floors for brothels, 
introducing thereby into the heart of this maga- 
zine of conflagration, the most reckless and im- 
moral of mankind. The consummation was the 
tremendous fires of November, 1824, the one ori- 
ginating in a whiskey-cellar, and the other in a 
garret brothel, which consumed the whole Par- 
liament Square and a part of the High Street, de- 
stroying property to the extent of many thousands 
of pounds, and spreading misery and ruin over a 
considerable portion of the population of Edin- 
burgh. Wonder, consternation, and awe were 
forcibly excited at the vastness of this calamity ; 
and in the sermons that were preached, and the 
dissertations that were written upon it, much was 
22* 



258 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION "* 

said of the inscrutable ways of Providence, that 
sent such visitations upon the people, enveloping 
the innocent and the guilty in one common sen- 
tence of destruction. 

According to the exposition of the ways of Pro- 
vidence which I have ventured to give, there was 
nothing wonderful, nothing vengeful, nothing ar- 
bitrary, in the whole occurrence. The surprising 
thing was, that it did not take place generations 
before. The necessity for these fabrics originated 
in gross violation of the moral law ; they were 
constructed in high contempt of the physical law ; 
and, latterly, the moral law was set at defiance, 
by placing in them inhabitants abandoned to the 
worst habits of recklessness and intoxication. The 
Creator had bestowed on men faculties to perceive 
all this, and to avoid it, whenever they chose to 
exert them ; and the destruction that ensued was 
the punishment of following the propensities, in 
preference to the dictates of intellect and morali- 
ty. The object of the destruction, as a natural 
event, was to lead men to avoid repetition of the 
offences : but the principles of the divine govern- 
ment are not yet comprehended ; Acquisitiveness 
whispers that more money may be made of houses 
consisting of five or six floors, under one roof, 
than of only two ; and erections, the very coun- 
terparts of the former, are now rearing their 
heads on the spot where the others stood, and, 
sooner or later, they also will be overtaken by the 
natural laws, which never slumber or sleep. 



OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 259 

The true method of arriving at a sound view 
of calamities of every kind, is to direct our atten- 
tion, in the first instance, to the law of nature, 
from the operation of which they have originated ; 
then to find out the uses and advantages of that 
law, when observed ; and to discover whether the 
evils under consideration have arisen from violation 
of it. In the present instance, we ought never to 
lose sight of the fact, that the houses in question 
stood erect, and the furniture in safety, by the 
very same law of gravitation which made them 
topple to the foundation when it was infringed ; 
that mankind enjoy all the benefits which result 
from the combustibility of timber as fuel, by the 
very same law which renders it a devouring ele- 
ment, when unduly ignited ; that, by the same 
moral law, which, when infringed, leads to the 
necessity of ramparts, fortifications, crowded lanes, 
and extravagantly high houses, we enjoy, now 
that we observe it better, that security of proper- 
ty and life which distinguishes modern Scotland 
from ancient Caledonia. 

This instance affords a striking illustration of 
the manner in which the physical and organic 
laws are constituted in harmony with, and in 
subserviency to, the moral law. We see clearly 
that the leading cause of the construction of such 
erections as the houses of the Old Town of Edin- 
burgh (with the deprivation of free air, and lia- 
bility to combustion that attend them), arose 
from the excessive predominance of Combative- 



260 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION** 

ness, Destructiveness, Self-esteem and Acquisi- 
tiveness, in our ancestors ; and although the 
ancient personages who erected these monuments 
of animal supremacy, had no conception that, in 
doing so, they were laying the foundations of a 
severe punishment on themselves and their pos- 
terity; yet, when we compare the comforts and 
advantages that would have accompanied dwell- 
ings constructed under the inspiration of Benevo- 
lence, Ideality, and enlightened Intellect, with 
the contaminating, debasing, and dangerous ef- 
fects of their workmanship, we perceive most 
clearly that they actually were the instruments of 
chastising their own transgressions, and of trans 
mitting that chastisement to their posterity, so 
long as the animal supremacy shall be prolonged. 
Another example may be given. 

Men, by uniting under one leader, may, in vir- 
tue of the social law, acquire prodigious advanta- 
ges to themselves, which singly they could not 
obtain ; and I stated, that the condition under 
which the benefits of that law were permitted, 
was, that the leader should know and obey the 
natural laws that were conducive to success ; if 
he neglected these, then the same principle which 
gave the social body the benefit of his observing 
them, involved them in the punishment of his 
infringement ; and that this was just, because, 
under the natural law, the leader must necessari- 
ly be chosen by the social body, and they were 
responsible for not attending to his natural quali- 



OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 261 

ties. Some illustrations of the consequences of 
neglect of this law may be stated, in which the 
mixed operation of the physical and moral laws 
will appear. 

During the French war, a squadron of English 
men-of-war was sent to the Baltic with military 
stores, and, in returning home up Channel, they 
were beset, for two or three days, by a thick fog. 
It was about the middle of December, and no cor- 
rect information was possessed of their exact sit- 
uation. Some of the commanders proposed ly- 
ing-to all night, and proceeding only during day, 
to avoid running ashore unawares. The commo- 
dore was exceedingly attached to his wife and fa- 
mily, and stated his determination to pass Christ- 
mas with them in England, if possible, and order- 
ed the ships to sail straight on their voyage. 
The very same night they all struck on a sand- 
bank off the coast of Holland; two ships of the 
line were dashed to pieces, and every soul on 
board perished. The third ship drew less watei, 
was forced over the bank by the waves was stand- 
ed on the beach, the crew saved, but led to a 
captivity of many years' duration. Now, these 
vessels were destroyed under the physical law ; 
but this calamity owed its origin to the predomi- 
nance of the animal over the moral and intellec- 
tual faculties in the commodore. The gratifica- 
tion which he sought to obtain was individual 
and selfish; and, if his Benevolence, Veneration, 
Conscientiousness, and Intellect, had been asi 



262 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION* 

alert and carried as forcibly home to his mind 
the operation of the physical laws, and the wel- 
fare of the men under his charge ; nay, if these 
faculties had been sufficiently alive to see the dan- 
ger to which he exposed his own life, and the hap- 
piness of his own wife and children, — he never 
could have followed the precipitate course which 
consigned himself, and so many brave men, to a 
watery grave, within a few hours after his resolu- 
tion was formed. 

Very lately the Ogle Castle East Indiaman was 
offered a pilot coming up Channel, but the cap- 
tain refused assistance, professing his own skill to 
be sufficient. In a few hours the ship ran 
aground on a sand-bank, and every human being 
perished in the waves. This also arose from the 
physical law, but the unfavourable operation of it 
sprung from Self-esteem, pretending to know- 
ledge which the intellect did not possess ; and, 
as it is only by the latter that obedience can be 
yielded to the physical laws, the destruction of 
the ship was indirectly the consequence of in- 
fringement of the moral and intellectual laws. 

An old sailor, whom I lately met on the Queens- 
ferry passage, told me, that he had been nearly 
fifty years at sea, and once was in a fifty gun ship 
in the West Indies. The captain, he said, was a 
' fine man ;' he knew the climate, and foresaw a 
hurricane coming, by its natural signs ; and, on 
one occasion, in particular, he struck the top- 
masts, lowered the yards, lashed the guns, made 



OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 263 

each man supply himself with food for thirty-six 
hours, and scarcely was this done when the hurri- 
cane came ; the ship lay for four hours on her 
beam-ends in the water ; but all was prepared ; 
the men were kept in vigour during the storm, 
and fit for every exertion ; the ship at last righted, 
suffered little damage, and proceeded on her voy- 
age. The fleet which she convoyed was dispers- 
ed, and a great number of the ships foundered. 
Here we see the supremacy of the moral and in- 
tellectual faculties, and discover to what a surpris- 
ing extent they present a guarantee, even against 
the fury of the physical elements in their highest 
state of agitation. 

One of the most instructive illustrations of the 
connexion between the different natural laws is 
presented in Captain Lyon's brief narrative of an 
unsuccessful attempt to reach Repulse Bay, in his 
Majesty's ship Griper, in the year 1824. 

Captain Lyon mentions, that he sailed in the 
Griper on 13th June, 1824, in company with his 
Majesty's surveying vessel Snap, as a store-tender. 
The Griper was 180 tons burden, and ' drew 16 
feet 1 inch abaft, and 15 feet 10 inches forward.' 
— p. 2. On the 26th, he ' was sorry to observe 
that the Griper, from her great depth and sharp- 
ness forward, pitched very deeply.' — p. 3. ' She 
sailed so ill, that ' in a stiff breeze and with stud- 
ding-sails set, he was unable to get above four 
knots an hour out of her, and she was twice whirl- 
ed round in an eddy in the Pentland Frith, from 



264 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION-. 

which she could not escape. 5 — p. 6. On the 3d 
July, ' being now fairly at sea, I caused the Snap 
to take us in tow, which I had declined doing as 
we passed up the east coast of England, although 
our little companion had much difficulty in keep- 
ing under sufficiently low sail for us, and by noon 
we had passed the Stack Back. 5 < The Snap was 
of the greatest assistance, the Griper frequently 
towing at the rate of five knots, in cases where 
she would not have gone three. 5 — p. 10. ' On the 
forenoon of the 16th, the Snap came and took us 
in tow ; but at noon on the 17th, strong breezes 
and a heavy swell obliged us again to cast off. 
We scudded while able, but our depth on the wa- 
ter caused us to ship so many heavy seas, that I 
most reluctantly brought to under storm stay-sails. 
This was rendered exceeding mortifying, by ob- 
serving that our companion was perfectly dry, and 
not affected by the sea. 5 — p. 13. ' When our 
stores were all on board, we found our narrow 
decks completely crowded by them. The gang- 
ways, forecastle, and abaft the mizen-mast, were 
filled with casks, hawsers, whale-lines, and stream- 
cables, while on our straitened lower decks we 
were obliged to place casks and other stores, in 
every part but that allotted to the ship 5 s compa- 
ny^ mess-tables ; and even my cabin had a quan- 
tity of things stowed away in it. 5 — p. 21. 'It 
may be proper to mention, that the Fury and He- 
cla, which were enabled to stow three years 5 pro- 
visions, were each exactly double the size of the 



OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 265 

Griper, and the Griper carried two years' and a- 
half's provisions.' — pp. 22, 23. 

Arrived in the Polar Seas, they were visited by 
a storm, of which Captain Lyon gives the follow- 
ing description : — ' We soon, however, came to 
fifteen fathoms, and I kept right away, but had 
then only ten ; when, being unable to see far 
around us, and observing, from the whiteness of 
the water, that we were on a bank, I rounded to 
at 7 a. m., and tried to bring up with the starboard 
anchor, and seventy fathoms chain, but the stiff 
breeze and heavy sea caused this to part in half 
an hour, and we again made sail to the north east- 
ward ; but finding we came suddenly to seven 
fathoms, and that the ship could not possibly work 
out again, as she would not face the sea, or keep 
steerage-way on her, I most reluctantly brought 
her up with three bowers and a stream in succes- 
sion, yet not before we had shoaled to five and a- 
half. This was between 8 and 9 a. m., the ship 
pitching bows under, and a tremendous sea run- 
ning. At noon, the starboard-bower anchor part- 
ed, but the others held. 

' As there was every reason to fear the falling 
of the tide, which we knew to be from twelve to 
fifteen feet on this coast, and in that case the to- 
tal destruction of the ship, I caused the longboat 
to be hoisted out, and with the four smaller ones 
to be stored to a certain extent, with arms and pro- 
visions. The officers drew lots for their respec- 
tive boats, and the ship's company were stationed 
23 



266 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION 

to them. The longboat having been filled full of 
stores, which could not be put below, it became 
requisite to throw them overboard, as there was 
no room for them on our very small and crowded 
decks, over which heavy seas were constantly 
sweeping. In making these preparations for tak- 
ing to the boats, it was evident to all, that the 
longboat was the only one that had the slightest 
chance of living under the lee of the ship, should 
she be wrecked, but every officer and man drew 
his lot with the greatest composure, though two of 
our boats would have swamped the instant they 
were lowered. Yet, such was the noble feeling 
of those around me, that it was evident, that, had 
I ordered the boats in question to be manned, their 
crews would have entered them without a mur- 
mur. In the afternoon, on the weather clearing a 
little, we discovered a low beach all around astern 
of us, on which the surf was running to an awful 
height, and it appeared evident that no human 
powers could save us. At 3 p. m. the tide had 
fallen to twentytwo feet, (only six feet more than 
we drew,) and the ship, having been lifted by a 
tremendous sea, struck with great violence the 
length of her keel. This we naturally conceived 
was the forerunner of her total wreck, and we 
stood in readiness to take the boats, and endea- 
v6ur to hang under her lee. She continued to 
strike with sufficient force to have burst any less 
fortified vessel, at intervals of a few minutes, 
whenever an unusual heavy sea passed us. And, 



OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 267 

as the water was so shallow, these might almost 
be called breakers rather than waves, for each in 
passing burst with great force over our gangways, 
and as every sea ' topped,' our decks were contin- 
ually, and frequently deeply, flooded. All hands 
took a little refreshment, for some had scarcely 
been below for twentyfour hours, and I had not 
been in bed for three nights. Although few, or 
none of us, had any idea that we should survive 
the gale, we did not think that our comforts should 
be entirely neglected, and an order was therefore 
given to the men to put on their best and warmest 
clothing, to enable them to support life as long as 
possible. Every man, therefore, brought his bag 
on deck, and dressed himself; and in the fine 
athletic forms which stood before me, I did not see 
one muscle quiver, nor the slightest sign of alarm. 
The officers each secured some useful instrument 
about them, for the purposes of observation, al- 
though it was acknowledged by all that not the 
slightest hope remained. And now that every 
thing in our power had been done, I called all 
hands aft, and to a merciful God offered prayers 
for our preservation. I thanked every one for their 
excellent conduct, and cautioned them, as we 
should, in all probability, soon appear before our 
Maker, to enter his presence as men resigned to 
their fate. We then all sat down in groups, and, 
sheltered from the wash of the sea, by whatever 
we could find, many of us endeavoured to obtain a 
little sleep. Never, perhaps, was witnessed a finer 



268 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION ** 

scene than on the deck of my little ship, when all 
the hope of life had left us. Noble as the char- 
acter of the British sailor is always allowed to be 
in cases of danger ; yet I did not believe it to be 
possible, that, amongst fortyone persons, not one 
repining word should have been uttered. The 
officers sat about, wherever they could find a shel- 
ter from the sea, and the men lay down conversing 
with each other with the most perfect calmness. 
Each was at peace with his neighbour and all the 
world, and I am firmly persuaded that the resigna- 
tion which was then shown to the will of the Al- 
mighty, was the means of obtaining his mercy. 
At about 6 p. m., the rudder, which had already re- 
ceived some very heavy blows, rose, and broke up 
the after-lockers, and this was the last severe 
shock that the ship received. We found by the 
well that she made no water, and by dark she 
struck no more. God was merciful to us, and the 
tide, almost miraculously fell no lower. At dark 
heavy rain fell, but was borne in patience, for it 
beat down the gale, and brought with it a light 
air from the northward. At 9 p. m., the water had 
deepened to five fathoms. The ship kept off the 
ground all night, and our exhausted crew obtain- 
ed some broken rest.' — p. 76. 

In humble gratitude for his deliverence, he call- 
ed the place ' The Bay of God's mercy,' and ' of- 
fered up thanks and praises to God, for the mercy 
he had shewn to us.' 



OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 269 

On 12th September, they had another gale of 
wind, with cutting showers of sleet, and a heavy 
sea. 'At such a time as this,' says Captain Lton, 
6 we had fresh cause to deplore the extreme dullness 
of the Griper's sailing ; for though almost any 
other vessel would have worked off this lea-shore, 
we made little or no progress on a wind, but re- 
mained actually pitching, forecastle under, with 
scarcely steerage-way, to preserve which I was 
ultimately obliged to keep her nearly two points 
off the wind.'— p. 98. 

Another storm overtook them, which is describ- 
ed as follows: — 'Never shall I forget the dreari- 
ness of this most anxious night. Our ship pitch- 
ed at such a rate that it was not possible to stand, 
even below ; while on deck we were unable to 
move, without holding by ropes, which were 
stretched from side to side. The drift snow flew 
in such sharp heavy flakes, that we could not look 
to windward, and it froze on deck to above a foot 
in depth. The sea made incessant breaches quite 
fore and aft the ship, and the temporary warmth 
it gave while it washed over us, was most painful- 
ly checked, by its almost immediately freezing on 
our clothes. To these discomforts were added, 
the horrible uncertainty as to whether the cables 
would hold until daylight, and the conviction also, 
that if they failed us, we should instantly be dash- 
ed to pieces; the wind blowing directly to the 
quarter in which we knew the shore must lie. 
Again, should they continue to hold us, we feared, 
23* 



270 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION 

by the ship's complaining so much forward, that 
the bitts would be torn up, or that she would set- 
tle down at her anchors, overpowered by some of 
the tremendous seas which burst over her. At 
dawn on the 13th, thirty minutes after four a. m., 
we found that the. best bower cable had parted; 
and, as the gale now blew with terrific violence 
from the north, there was little reason to expect 
that the other anchors would hold long ; or, if 
they did, we pitched so deeply, and lifted so great 
a body of to at er each time, that it was feared the 
windlass and forecastle would be torn up, or she 
must go down at her anchors ; although the ports 
were knocked out, and a considerable portion of 
the bulwark cut away, she could scarcely discharge 
one sea before shipping another, and the decks 
were frequently flooded to an alarming depth. 

6 At six a. m., all further doubts on this particu- 
lar account were at an end ; for, having received 
two overwhelming seas, both the other cables 
went at the same moment, and we were left help- 
less, without anchors, or any means of saving 
ourselves, should the shore, as we had every rea- 
son to expect, be close astern. And here, again, 
I had the happiness of witnessing the same gen- 
eral tranquillity as was shewn on the 1st of Sep- 
tember. There was no outcry that the cables 
were gone ; but my friend Mr Manico, with Mr 
Carr the gunner, came aft as soon as they recov- 
ered their legs, and, in the lowest whisper, in- 
formed me that the cables had all parted. The 



OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 271 

ship, in trending to the wind, lay quite down on 
her broadside, and as it then became evident that 
nothing held her, and that she was quite helpless, 
each man instinctively took his station ; while the 
seamen at the leads, having secured themselves 
as well as was in their power, repeated their 
soundings, on w T hich our preservation depended, 
with as much composure as if we had been enter- 
ing a friendly port. Here, again, that Almighty 
power, which had before so mercifully preserved 
us, granted us his protection.' — p. 100. 

Nothing can be more interesting and moving 
than this narrative ; it displays a great predomi- 
nance of the moral sentiments and intellect, but 
sadly unenlightened as to the natural laws. I 
quoted, in Captain Lyon's own words, his descrip- 
tion of the Griper, loaded to such excess that she 
drew sixteen feet water ; that she was incapable of 
sailing ; that she was whirled round in an eddy in 
the Pentland Frith ; that seas broke over her that 
did not wet the deck of the little Snap, not half 
her size. Captain Lyon knew all this ; and also 
the roughness of the climate to which he was 
steering ; and, with these outrages of the phy- 
sical law staring him in the face, he proceeded on 
his voyage, without addressing, so far as we per- 
ceive, one remonstrance to the Lords of the Ad- 
miralty on the subject of this infringement of eve- 
ry principle of common prudence. My opinion is, 
that Captain Lyon was not blind to the errors 
committed in his equipment, or to their probable 



272 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION 

consequences ; but that his powerful sentiment of 
Veneration, combined with Cautiousness and Love 
of Approbation, (misdirected in this instance), de- 
prived him of courage to complain to the Admi- 
ralty, through fear of giving offence : or that, if 
he did complain, they have prevented him from 
stating the fact in his narrative. To the tempes- 
tuous north he sailed ; and his greatest dangers 
were clearly referable to the very infringements of 
the physical laws which he describes. When the 
tide ebbed, his ship reached to within six feet of 
the bottom, and, in the hollow of every wave, 
struck with great violence : but she was loaded at 
least four feet too deeply, by his own account; so 
that, if he had done his own duty, she would have 
had four feet of additional water, or ten feet in all, 
between her and the bottom, even in the hollow of 
the wave, — a matter of the very last importance, 
in such a critical condition. Indeed, with four 
feet more water, she would not have struck. Be- 
sides, if less loaded, she would have struck less 
violently. Again, when pressed upon a lea shore, 
her incapability of sailing was a most obvious 
cause of danger : in short, if Providence is to be 
regarded as the cause of these calamities, there is 
no impropriety which man can commit, which 
may not, on the same principles, be charged 
against the Creator. 

But the moral law again shines forth in delight- 
ful splendour, in the conduct of Captain Lyon and 
his crew, when in the most forlorn condition. Pie- 



OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 273 

ty, resignation, and manly resolution, then animat- 
ed them to the noblest efforts. On the principle, 
that the power of accommodating the conduct to 
the natural laws, depends on the activity of the 
sentiments and intellect, and that the more numer- 
ous the faculties that are excited, the greater is 
the energy communicated to the whole system, I 
would say, that, while Captain Lyon's sufferings 
were, in a great degree, brought on by his in- 
fringements of the physical laws, his escape was, 
in a great measure, promoted by his obedience to 
the moral law ; and that Providence, in the whole 
occurrences, proceeded on the broad and general 
principle, which sends advantage uniformly as the 
reward of obedience, and evil as the punishment 
of infringement, of every particular law of crea- 
tion. 

That storms and tempests have been instituted 
for some benevolent end, may, perhaps, be ac- 
knowledged, when their causes and effects are 
fully known, which at present is not the case. 
But, even amidst all our ignorance of these, it is 
surprising how small a portion of evil they would 
occasion, if men obeyed the laws which are actu- 
ally ascertained. How many ships perish from 
being sent to sea in an old worn out condition, 
and ill equipped, through mere Acquisitiveness; 
and how many more, from captains and crews 
being chosen who are greatly deficient in knowl- 
edge, intelligence, and morality, in consequence 
of which they infringe the physical laws. We 



274 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION 

ought to look to all these matters, before com- 
plaining of storms as natural institutions. 

The last example of the mixed operation of the 
natural laws which I shall notice, is that which 
followed from the mercantile distresses of 1825-6. 
I have traced the origin of that visitation to ex- 
cessive activity of Acquisitiveness, and a general 
ascendancy of the animal and selfish faculties over 
the moral and intellectual powers. The punish- 
ments of these offences were manifold. The ex- 
cesses infringed the moral law, and the chastise- 
ment for this was deprivation of the tranquil, 
steady enjoyment that flows only from the senti- 
ments, with severe suffering in the ruin of fortune 
and blasting of hope. These disappointments 
produced mental anguish and depression ; which 
occasioned unhealthy action in the brain. The 
action of the brain being disturbed, a morbid 
nervous influence was transmitted to the whole 
corporeal system; bodily disease was superadded 
to mental sorrow, and, in some instances, the un- 
happy sufferers committed suicide to escape from 
these aggravated evils. Under the organic law, 
the children produced in this period of mental 
depression, bodily distress, and organic derange- 
ment, will inherit weak bodies, with feeble and 
irritable minds, a hereditary chastisement of their 
father's transgressions. 

In the instances now given, we discover the va- 
rious laws acting in perfect harmony, and in sub- 
ordination to the moral and intellectual. If our 



OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 275 

ancestors had not forsaken the supremacy of the 
moral sentiments, such fabrics as the houses in the 
Old Town of Edinburgh never would have been 
built ; and if the modern proprietors had returned 
to that law, and kept profligate and drunken in- 
habitants out of them, the conflagration might 
still have been avoided. In the case of the ships, 
we saw, that wherever intellect and sentiment had 
been relaxed, and animal motives permitted to 
assume the supremacy, evil had speedily followed ; 
and that where the higher powers were called 
forth, safety had been obtained. And, finally, in 
the case of the merchants and manufacturers, we 
traced their calamities directly to placing Acqui- 
sitiveness and Ambition above Intellect and Sen- 
timent. 

Formidable and appalling, then, as these pun- 
ishments are, yet, when we attend to the laws 
under which they occur, and perceive that the ob- 
ject and legitimate operation of every one of them, 
when observed, is to produce happiness to man ; 
and that the punishments have the sole object in 
view of forcing him back to this enjoyment, we 
cannot, under the supremacy of the sentiments 
and intellect, fail to bow in humility before them, 
as at once wise, just, and beneficent. 



276 



CONCLUSION. 

The question has frequently been asked, What 
is the practical use of Phrenology, even supposing 
it to be true ? A few observations will enable us 
to answer this inquiry ; and, at the same time, to 
present a brief summary of the doctrine of the 
preceding Essay. 

Prior to the age of Galileo, the earth and sun 
presented to the eye phenomena exactly similar 
to those which they now exhibit ; but their mo- 
tions appeared in a very different light to the un- 
derstanding. 

Before the age of Newton, the revolutions of 
the planets were known as matter of fact ; b.ut the 
understanding was ignorant of the principle of 
their motions. 

Previous to the dawn of modern chemistry, 
many of the qualities of physical substances were 
ascertained by observation, but their ultimate 
principles and relations were not understood. 

Knowledge may be rendered beneficial in two 
ways, — either by rendering the substance disco- 
vered directly subservient to human enjoyment; 
or, where this is impossible, by modifying human 
conduct in harmony with its qualities. While 
knowledge of any department of nature remains 



CONCLUSION. 277 

imperfect and empirical, the unknown qualities of 
the objects belonging to it, may render our efforts 
either to apply or to accord with those which are 
known, altogether abortive. Hence it is only 
after ultimate principles have been discovered, 
their relations ascertained, and this knowledge 
has been systematised, that science can attain its 
full character of utility. The merits of Galileo 
and Newton consist in having rendered this ser- 
vice to astronomy. * 

Before the appearance of Drs Gall and Spurz- 
heim, mankind were practically acquainted with 
the feelings and intellectual operations of their 
own minds ; and anatomists knew the appearances 
of the brain. But the science of Mind was very 
much in the same state as that of the heavenly 
bodies prior to Galileo and Newton. This re- 
mark is borne out by the following considerations : 

First. No unanimity prevailed among philoso- 
phers concerning the elementary feelings and 
intellectual powers of man. Individuals, defi- 
cient in Conscientiousness, for instance, denied 
that the sentiment of justice was a primitive men- 
tal quality of mind. Others, deficient in Venera- 
tion, asserted that man was not naturally prone to 
worship, and ascribed religion to the invention of 
priests. 

Secondly. The extent to which the primitive 

faculties differ in relative strength, was matter of 

dispute, or of vague conjecture ; and there was 

no agreement whether many actual attainments 

24 



278 CONCLUSION. 

were the gifts of nature, or the results of mere 
cultivation. 

Thirdly. Different modes of the same feeling 
were often mistaken for different feelings ; and 
modes of action of all the intellectual faculties 
were mistaken for faculties themselves. 

Fourthly. The brain, confessedly the most im- 
portant organ of the body, and that with which 
the nerves of the senses, of motion, and of feel- 
ing directly communicate, had no ascertained func- 
tions. Mankind were ignorant of its uses, and of 
its influence on the mental faculties. They indeed 
still dispute that its different parts are the organs 
of different mental powers, and that the vigour of 
manifestation bears a proportion, ceteris paribus^ 
to the size of the organ. 

If, in physics, imperfect and empirical know- 
ledge renders the unknown qualities of bodies lia- 
ble to frustrate the efforts of man to apply or to 
accommodate his conduct to their known qualities ; 
and if only a complete and systematic exhibition 
of ultimate principles, and their relations, can 
confer on science its full character of utility, — 
the same doctrine applies with equal or greater 
force to the philosophy of man. For example, 

Politics embrace forms of government, and the 
relations between different states. All govern- 
ment is designed to combine the efforts of indi- 
viduals, and to regulate their conduct when unit- 
ed. To arrive at the best means of accomplish- 
ing this end, systematic knowledge of the nature 



CONCLUSION. 279 

of man seems highly important. A despotism, for 
example, may restrain some abuses of the lower 
propensities, but it assuredly impedes the exercise 
of reflection, and others of the highest and noblest 
powers. A form of government can be suited to 
the nature of man only when it is calculated to 
permit the legitimate use, and to restrain the 
abuses, of all his mental feelings and capacities ; 
and how can such a government be devised, while 
these principles, with their spheres of action, and 
external relations, are imperfectly ascertained. 
Again ; all relations between different states must 
also be in accordance with the nature of man, to 
prove permanently beneficial; and the question 
recurs, How are these to be framed while that 
nature is matter of conjecture ? Napoleon dis- 
believed in a sentiment of justice as an innate 
quality of mind ; and, in his relations with other 
states, relied on fear and interest as the grand 
motives of conduct : but that sentiment existed ; 
and, combined with other faculties which he out- 
raged, prompted Europe to hurl him from his 
throne. If Napoleon had comprehended the prin- 
ciples of human nature, and their relations, as 
forcibly and clearly as the principles of mathema- 
tics, in which he excelled, his understanding would 
have greatly modified his conduct, and Europe 
would have escaped prodigious calamities. 

Legislation, civil and criminal, is intended to 
regulate and direct the human faculties in their 
efforts at gratification 5 and, to be useful, laws 



280 CONCLUSION. 

must accord with the constitution of these facul- 
ties. But how can salutary laws be enacted, while 
the subject to be governed, or human nature, is 
not accurately understood ? The inconsistency 
and intricacy of the laws even in enlightened na- 
tions, have afforded themes for the satirist in every 
age ; and how could the case be otherwise ? Le- 
gislators provided rules for directing the qualities 
of human nature, which they conceived themselves 
to know ; but either error in their conceptions, or 
the effects of other qualities unknown or unat- 
tended to, defeated their intentions. The law, 
for example, punishing heresy with burning, was 
addressed by our ancestors to Cautiousness, 
Self-love, and other inferior feelings ; but Intel- 
lect, Veneration, Conscientiousness, and Firmness, 
were omitted in their estimate of human princi- 
ples of action ; and these set their law at defi- 
ance. 

There are many laws still in the statute book,, 
equally at variance with the nature of man. 

Education is intended to enlighten the intel- 
lect and moral sentiments, and train them to vi- 
gour. But how can this be successfully accom- 
plished, when the faculties and sentiments them- 
selves, the laws to which they are subjected, and 
their relations to external objects, are unascer- 
tained. Accordingly, the theories and practices 
observed in education are innumerable and contra- 
dictory, which could not happen if men knew the 
constitution of the object which they were train- 
ing. 



CONCLUSION. 281 

Morals and Religion, also, cannot assume a 
systematic and demonstrable character, until the 
elementary qualities of mind, and their relations 
shall be ascertained. 

It is presumable that the Deity, in creating the 
moral powers and the external world, really adapt- 
ed the one to the other ; so that individuals and 
nations, in pursuing morality, must, in every in- 
stance, be promoting their best interests, and, in 
departing from it, must be sacrificing them to pas- 
sion or to illusory notions of advantage. But, un- 
til the nature of man, and the relationship between 
it and the external world, shall be scientifically 
ascertained, and systematically expounded, it will 
be impossible to support morality by the powerful 
demonstration of interest, as here supposed, coin- 
ciding with it. The tendency in most men to 
view expediency as not always coincident with 
justice, affords a striking proof of the limited 
knowledge of the constitution of man and the ex- 
ternal world still prevalent in society. 

The diversities of doctrine in religion also obvi- 
ously owe their origin to ignorance of the primi- 
tive faculties and their relations. The faculties 
differ in relative strength in different individuals, 
and each person is most alive to objects and views 
connected with the powers predominant in him- 
self. Hence, in reading the Scriptures, one is 
convinced that they establish Calvanism ; anoth- 
er, possessing a different combination of faculties, 
discovers in them Lutheranism; and a third is satis- 
24* 



282 CONCLUSION. 

fiedthatSocinianism is the only true interpretation. 
These individuals have, in general, no distinct 
conception that the views which strike them most 
forcibly, appear in a different light to minds dif- 
ferently constituted. A correct interpretation of 
revelation must harmonize with the dictates of the 
moral sentiments and intellect, holding the animal 
propensities in subordination. It may legitimate- 
ly go beyond what they, unaided, could reach ; 
but it cannot contradict them ; because this would 
be setting the revelation of the bible in opposition 
to the inherent dictates of the faculties constitut- 
ed by the Creator, which cannot be admitted ; as 
the Deity is too powerful and wise to be incon- 
sistent. But mankind will never be induced to 
bow to such interpretations, while each takes his 
individual mind as a standard of human nature in 
general, and conceives that his own impressions 
are synonymous with absolute truth. The estab- 
lishment of Jhe nature of man, therefore, on a sci- 
entific basis, and in a systematic form, must aid 
the cause both of morality and religion. 

The professions, pursuits, amusements, and 
hours of exertion of individuals, ought also to 
bear reference to their physical and mental con- 
stitution ; but hitherto no guiding principle has 
been possessed to regulate practice in these im- 
portant particulars, — another evidence that the 
science of man has been unknown. 

But we require only to attend to the scenes 
daily presenting themselves in society, to obtain 



CONCLUSION. 283 

irresistible demonstration of the consequences re- 
sulting from the want of a true theory of human 
nature, and its relations. Every preceptor in 
schools, every professor in colleges, every author, 
editor, and pamphleteer, every member of Par- 
liament, counsellor and judge, has a set of notions 
of his own, which in his mind hold the place of a 
system of the philosophy of man ; and although 
he may not have methodised his ideas, or even ac- 
knowledged them to himself as a theory, yet they 
constitute a standard to him by which he practi- 
cally judges of all questions in morals, politics, 
and religion ; he advocates whatever views co- 
incide with them, and condemns all that differ 
from them, with as unhesitating dogmatism as the 
most pertinacious theorist on earth. Each also 
despises the notions of his fellows, in so far as 
they differ from his own. In short, the human 
faculties too generally operate simply as instincts, 
exhibiting all the confliction and uncertainty of 
mere feeling, unenlightened by perception of their 
own nature and objects. Hence public measures 
in general, whether relating to education, religion, 
trade, manufactures, the poor, criminal law, or to 
any other of the dearest interests of society, instead 
of being treated as branches of one general sys- 
tem of economy, and adjusted each on scientific 
principles in harmony with all the rest, are sup- 
ported or opposed on narrow and empirical 
grounds, and often call forth displays of ignorance, 
prejudice, selfishness, intolerance, and bigotry, 



284 CONCLUSION. 

that greatly obstruct the progress of improvement. 
Indeed, unanimity, even among sensible and vir- 
tuous men, will be impossible, so long as no stand- 
ard of mental philosophy is admitted to guide in- 
dividual feelings and perceptions. But the state 
of things now described could not exist if educa- 
tion embraced a true system of human nature and 
its relations. 

If, then, phrenology be true, it will, when ma- 
tured, supply the deficiencies now pointed out. 

But, here, another question naturally presents 
itself, How are the views now expounded, suppos- 
ing them to contain some portion of truth, to be 
rendered practical ? In answer I remark, that the 
institutions and manners of society indicate the 
state of mind of the influential classes at the time 
when they prevail. The trial and burning of old 
women as Witches, point out clearly the predomi- 
nance of Destructiveness and Wonder over Intel- 
lect and Benevolence, in those who were guilty of 
such cruel absurdities. ' The practices of wager of 
battle, and ordeal by fire and water, indicate Com- 
bativeness, Destructiveness, and Veneration, to 
have been in great activity in those who permitted 
them, combined with much intellectual ignorance 
of the natural constitution of the world. In like 
manner, the enormous sums willingly expended in 
war, and the small sums grudgingly paid for pub- 
lic improvements ; the intense energy displayed in 
the pursuit of wealth ; and the general apathy 
evinced in the search after knowledge and virtue, 



CONCLUSION. 285 

unequivocally proclaim activity of Combativeness, 
Destructiveness, Acquisitiveness, Self-esteem, and 
Love of Approbation ; with comparatively mode- 
rate vivacity of Benevolence and Intellect, in the 
present generation. Before, therefore, the prac- 
tices of mankind can be altered, the state of their 
minds must be changed. No practical error can 
be greater than that of establishing institutions 
greatly in advance of the mental condition of the 
people. The rational method is first to instruct 
the intellect, then to interest the sentiments, and, 
last of all, to form arrangements in harmony with, 
and resting on, these as their basis. 

The views developed in the preceding chapters, 
if founded in nature, may be expected to lead, ul- 
timately, to considerable changes in many of the 
customs and pursuits of society ; but to accomplish 
this effect, the principles themselves must first be 
ascertained to be true ; then they must be sedu- 
lously taught ; and when the public mind has been 
thoroughly prepared, then only ought important 
practical alterations to be proposed. It appears 
to me that a long series of years will be necessary 
to bring even civilized nations into a condition 
systematically to obey the natural laws. 

The preceding chapters may be regarded, in 
one sense, as an introduction to an Essay on Edu- 
cation. If the views unfolded in them be in gen- 
eral sound, it will follow that education has scarce- 
ly yet commenced. If the Creator has bestowed 
on the body, on the mind, and on external nature. 



286 CONCLUSION. 

determinate constitutions, and arranged these so as 
to act on each other, and to produce happiness or 
misery to man, according to certain definite prin- 
ciples, and if this action goes on invariably, inflexi- 
bly, and irresistibly, whether men attend to it or 
not, it is obvious that the very basis of useful 
knowledge must consist in an acquaintance with 
these natural arrangements; and that education 
will be valuable in the exact degree in which it 
communicates such information, and trains the 
faculties to act upon it. Reading, writing, and 
accounts, which make up the instruction enjoyed 
by the lower orders, are merely means of acquiring 
knowledge, but do not constitute it. Greek, Latin, 
and mathematics, which are added in the educa- 
tion of the middle classes, are still only means 
pf obtaining information ; so that, with the excep- 
tion of the few who pursue physical science, so- 
ciety dedicates very little attention to the study of 
the natural laws. In following out the views now 
discussed, therefore, each individual, according as 
he becomes acquainted with the natural laws, 
ought to obey them, and to communicate his ex- 
perience of their operations to others ; avoiding at 
the same time all attempts at subverting, by vio- 
lence, established institutions, or outraging public 
sentiment by intemperate discussions. The doc- 
trine now unfolded, if true, authorises us to pre^ 
dicate that the most successful method of meliorate 
ing the condition of mankind, will be that which 
appeals most directly to their moral sentiments anc( 



CONCLUSION. 287 

intellect ; and, I may add from experience and ob- 
servation, that, in proportion as any individual be- 
comes acquainted with the real constitution of the 
human mind, will his conviction of the efficacy of 
this method increase. 

The next step ought to be to teach those laws 
to the young. * Their minds, not being pre-oecu- 
pied by prejudices, will recognise them as conge 
nial to their constitution ; the first generation that 
has embraced them from infancy will proceed to 
modify the institutions of society into accordance 
with their dictates ; and in the course of ages they 
may at length be acknowledged as practically use- 
ful. All true theories have ultimately been adopt- 
ed and influenced practice ; and I see no reason to 
fear that the present will prove an exception. The 
failure of all previous systems is the natural con- 
sequence of their being unfounded ; if this one 
shall resemble them, it will deserve, and assuredly 
will meet with, a similar fate. A perception of the 
importance of the natural laws will lead to their 
observance, and this will be attended with an im- 
proved developement of brain, thereby increasing 
the desire and capacity for obedience. 

Finally. If it be true that the Natural Laws 
must be obeyed as a preliminary condition to hap- 
piness in this world, and if virtue and happiness 
be inseparably allied, the religious instructers of 
mankind may probably discover in the general and 

* Some observations on Education will be found in the Phreno - 
logical Journal, vol. iv, p. 407. 



288 CONCLUSION. 

prevalent ignorance of these laws, one reason of the 
limited success which has hitherto attended their 
own efforts at improving the condition of mankind; 
and they may perhaps perceive it to be not incon- 
sistent with their sacred office, to instruct men in 
the natural institutions of the Creator, in addition 
to his revealed will, and to recommend obedience 
to both. They exercise so vast an influence over 
the best members of society, that their countenance 
may hasten, or their opposition retard, by a cen- 
tury, the practical adoption of the natural laws 3 
as guides of human conduct. 



APPENDIX. 

Note I. 

NATURAL LAWS. — Text, p. 1. 

In the text it is mentioned, that many philosophers have 
treated of the Laws of Nature. The following are examples : 

Mr Stewart says, ' To examine the economy of nature in 
the phenomena of the lower animals, and to compare their in- 
stincts with the physical circumstances of their external situ- 
ation, forms one of the finest speculations of Natural History; 
and yet it is a speculation to which the attention of the natu- 
ral historian has seldom been directed. Not only Buffon, 
but Ray and Derham, have passed it over slightly; nor, in- 
deed, do I know of any one who has made it the object of a 
particular consideration but Lord Kames, in a short Appendix 
to one of his Sketches.' — Elements of the Philosophy of the 
Human Mind, vol. iii. p. 368. 

Mr Stewart also uses the following words: — ' Number- 
less examples shew that Nature has done no more for man 
than was necessary for his preservation, leaving him to make 
many acquisitions for himself, which she has imparted imme 
diately to the brutes. 

'My own idea is, as I have said on a different occasion, that 
both instinct and experience are here concerned, and that the 
share which belongs to each in producing the result, can be 
ascertained by an appeal to facts alone.' — Vol. iii. ch. 338. 

Montesquieu introduces his Spirit of Laws by the follow- 
ing observations : — * Laws, in their most general signification, 
are the necessary relations derived from the nature of things. 
In this sense, all beings have their laws; the Deity has his 
25 



290 APPENDIX. NATURAL LAWS. > 

laws ; the material world its laws ; the intelligences superior 
to man have their laws ; the beasts their laws ; man his laws. 

' Those who assert that a blind fatality produced the various 
effects we behold in this world, are guilty of a very great absur- 
dity : for can anything be -more absurd than to pretend that a 
blind fatality could be productive of intelligent beings ? 

1 There is, then, a primitive reason; and laws are the rela- 
tions which subsist between it and different beings, and the re- 
lations of these beings among themselves. 

'God is related to the universe as creator and preserver; 
the laws by which he has created all things are those by which he 
preserves them. He acts according to these rules, because he 
knows them : he knows them because he has made them ; and 
he made them because they are relative to his wisdom and 
power, &c. 

c Man, as a physical being, is, like other bodies, governed by 
invariable laws? — Spirit of Laws, b. i.. c. i. 

Justice Blackstone observes, that 'Law, in its most gen- 
eral and comprehensive sense, signifies a rule of action ; and 
is applied indiscriminately to all kinds of action, whether ani- 
mate or inanimate, rational or irrational. Thus we say, the 
laws of motion, of gravitation, of optics, or mechanics, as well 
as the laws of nature and of nations. Thus, when the Su- 
preme Being formed the universe, and created matter out of 
nothing, he impressed certain principles upon that matter, from 
which it can never depart, and without which it would cease 
to be. When he put that matter into motion, he established 
certain laws of motion, to which all moveable bodies must con- 
form.' — ' If we farther advance from mere inactive matter to 
vegetable and animal life, we shall find them still gov- 
erned by laws ; more numerous, indeed, but equally fixed 
and invariable. The whole progress of plants, from the seed 
to the root, and from thence to the seed again ; — the method of 
animal nutrition, digestion, secretion, and all other branches 
of vital economy ; — are not left to chance, or the will of the 
creature itself, but are performed in a wondrous involuntary 
manner, and guided by unerring rules laid down by the great 



APPENDIX. NATURAL LAWS. 291 

Creator. This, then, is the general signification of law, a rule 
of action dictated by some superior being ; and in those crea- 
tures that have neither power to think, nor the will, such laws 
must be invariably obeyed, so long as the creature itself sub- 
sists; for its existence depends on that obedience.' — Black- 
stone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, vol i. sect. 2. 

' The word law? says Mr Erskine, i is frequently made use 
of, both by divines and philosophers, in a large acceptation, to 
express the settled method of God's providence, by which he 
preserves the order of the material world in such a man- 
ner, that nothing in it may deviate from that uniform course 
which he has appointed for it. And as brute matter is merely 
passive, without the least degree of choice upon its part, these 
laws are inviolably observed in the material creation, every 
part of which continues to act, immutably, according to the rules 
that were from the begining prescribed to it by infinite ivisdom. 
Thus philosophers have given the appellation of law to that 
motion which incessantly pervades and agitates the universe, 
and is ever changing the form and substance of things, dissolv- 
ing some, and raising others, as from their ashes, to fill up the 
void : Yet so, that amidst all the fluctations by which partic- 
ular things are affected, the universe is still preserved without 
diminution. Thus also they speak of the laws of fluids, of 
gravitation, &c. and the word is used, in this sense, in several 
passages of the sacred wiitings ; in the book of Job, and in 
Proverbs viii. 29, where God is said to have given his law to 
the seas that they should not pass his commandment.'- — Ers- 
kine's Institutes of the Law of Scotland, book i. tit. i. sect. 1 . 

Discussions about the Laws of Nature, rather than inquiries 
into them, were common in France, during the Revolution 
and, having become associated, in imagination, with the crimes 
and horrors of that period, they continue to be regarded, by 
some individuals, as inconsistent with religion and morality. 
A coincidence between the views maintained in the preceding 
Essay, and a passage in Volney, has been pointed out to me 
as an objection to the whole doctrine. Volney's words are 
the following: — 'It is a law of nature, that water flows from 



292 



APPENDIX. NATURAL LAWS. 



an upper to a lower situation ; that it seeks its level : that it is 
heavier than air ; that all bodies tend towards the earth ; that 
flame rises towards the sky ; that it destroys the organization 
of vegetables and animals ; that air is essential to the life of 
certain animals ; that, in certain cases, water suffocates and 
kills them ; that certain juices of plants, and certain minerals, 
attack their organs, and destroy their life ; — and the same of a 
variety of facts. 

c Now, since these facts, and many similar ones, are constant,, 
regular, and immutable, they become so many real and positive 
commands, to which man is bound to conform, under the express 
penalty of punishment attached to their infraction, or well- 
being connected with their observance. So that if a man 
were to pretend to see clearly in the dark, or is regardless of 
the progress of the seasons, or the action of the elements; if 
he pretends to exist under water, without drowning ; to han- 
dle fire without burning himself; to deprive himself of air 
without suffocating; or to drink poison without destroying 
himself; he receives, for each infraction of the law of nature, 
a corporal punishment proportioned to his transgression. If, 
On the contrary, he observes these laws, and founds his prac- 
tice on the precise and regular relation which they bear to> 
him, he preserves his existence, and renders it as happy as it 
is capable of being rendered ; and since all these laws, con- 
sidered in relation to the human species, have in view only one 
common end, that of their preservation and their happiness ; 
whence it has been agreed to assemble together the different 
ideas, and express them by a single word, and call them col- 
lectively by the name of the " Law of Nature." ' — Volney's 
Law of Nature, 3d edit. pp. 21, 24. 

I feel no embarrassment by this coincidence ; but remark, 
first, That various authors, quoted in the text and in this note, 
advocated the importance of the laws of nature, long before 
the French Revolution was heard of; secondly, That the ex- 
istence of the laws of nature is as obvious to the understand- 
ing, as the existence of the external world, and of the human 
mind and body themselves to the senses; thirdly, That these 



APPENDIX. NATURAL LAWS. 293 

laws, being inherent in creation, must have proceeded from the 
Deity ; fourthly, That if the Deity is powerful, just, and be- 
nevolent, they must harmonize with the constitution of man ; 
and, lastly, That if the laws of nature have been instituted 
by the Deity, and been framed in wise, benevolent, and just 
relationship to the human constitution, they must at all times 
form the highest and most important subjects of human inves- 
tigation, and remain altogether unaffected by the errors, fol- 
lies, and crimes of those who endeavour to expound them ; 
just as religion continues holy, venerable, and uncontaminated, 
notwithstanding of the hypocrisy, wickedness, and inconsisten- 
cy of individuals professing themselves her interpreters and 
friends. 

That the views of the natural laws themselves, advocated 
in this Essay, are diametrically opposite to the practical con- 
duct of the French revolutionary ruffians, requires no demon- 
stration. My fundamental principle is, that man can enjoy 
happiness on earth only by placing his habitual conduct under 
the supremacy of the moral sentiments, and intellect, and that 
this is the law of his nature. No doctrine can be more oppos- 
ed than this to fraud, robbery, blasphemy, and murder. 

It may be urged, that all past speculations about the laws of 
nature have proved more imposing than useful ; and that while 
the laws themselves afford materials for elevated declamation 
on the part of philosophers, they form no secure guides even 
to the learned, and much less to the illiterate, in practical con- 
duct. In answer, I would respectfully repeat what has frequent- 
ly been urged in the text, that, before we can discover the laws 
of nature, applicable to man, we must know, first, The consti- 
tution of man himself ; secondly, The constitution of external 
nature ; and, thirdly, We must compare the two. But, previ- 
ous to the discovery of Phrenology, the mental constitution of 
man was a matter of vague conjecture, and endless debate ; 
and the connexion between his mental powers and his organ- 
ized system, was involved in the deepest obscurity. The 
brain, the most important organ of the body, had no ascertain- 
ed functions. Before the introduction of this science, there- 

25* 



294 APPENDIX. ORGANIC LAWS. •> 

fore, inen were rather impressed with the unspeakable impor- 
tance of a knowledge of the laws of nature, than acquainted 
with the laws themselves; and even the knowledge of the 
external world actually possessed, could not, in many instan- 
ces, be rendered available, on account of its relationship to the 
qualities of man being unascertained, and unascertainable, so 
long as these qualities themselves were unknown. 



Note II. 

organic laws. — Text, p. 108. 

It is a very common error, not only among philosophers, but 
among practical men, to imagine that the feelings of the mind 
are communicated to it through .the medium of the intellect ; 
and, in particular, that if no indelicate objects reach the eyes, 
or expressions penetrate the ears, perfect purity will necessa- 
rily reign within the soul ; and, carrying this mistake into 
practice, they are prone to object to all discussion of the sub- 
jects treated of under the ' Organic Laws,' in works designed 
for general use. But their principle of reasoning is falla- 
cious, and the practical result has been highly detrimental to 
society. The feelings have existence and activity distinct 
from the intellect ; they spur it on to obtain their own gratifi- 
cation ; and it may become either their slave or guide, accor- 
ding as it is enlightened concerning their constitution and 
objects, and the laws of nature to which they are subjected. 
The most profound philosophers have inculcated this doc- 
trine ; and, by phrenological observation, it is demonstrably 
established. The organs of the feelings are distinct from 
those of the intellectual faculties ; they are larger ; and, as 
each faculty, cceteris paribus, acts with a power proportionate 
to the size of its organ, the feelings are obviously the active 
or impelling powers. The cerebellum, or organ of Amative- 



APPENDIX. ORGANIC LAWS. 295 

ness, is the largest of the whole mental organs ; and, being* 
endowed with natural activity, it fills the mind spontaneously 
with emotions and suggestions which may be directed, con- 
trolled, and resisted, in outward manifestation, by intellect 
and moral sentiment, but which cannot be prevented from 
arising, nor eradicated after they exist. The whole question, 
therefore, resolves itself into this, Whether it is most benefi- 
cial to enlighten and direct that feeling, or (under the influ- 
ence of an error in philosophy, and false delicacy founded on 
it), to permit it to riot in all the fierceness of a blind animal 
instinct, withdrawn from the eye of reason, but not thereby de- 
prived of its vehemence and importunity. The former course 
appears to me to be the only one consistent with season and 
morality ; and I have adopted it in reliance on the good sense of 
my readers, that they will at once discriminate between practi- 
cal instruction concerning this feeling, addressed to the intellect, 
and lascivious representations addressed to the mere propensi- 
ty itself ; with the latter of which the enemies of all improve- 
ment may attempt to confound my observations. Every 
function of the mind and body is instituted by the Creator ; 
all may be abused ; and it is impossible regularly to avoid 
abuse of them, except by being instructed in their nature, ob- 
jects, and relations. This instruction ought to be addressed 
exclusively to the intellect ; and, when it is so, it is science of 
the most beneficial description. The propriety, nay necessi- 
ty, of acting on this principle, becomes more and more appar- 
ent, when it is considered that the discussions of the text 
suggest only intellectual ideas to individuals in whom the 
feeling in question is naturally weak, and that such minds 
perceive no indelicacy in knowledge which is calculated to 
be useful ; while, on the other hand, persons in whom the 
feeling is naturally strong, are precisely those who stand in 
need of direction, and to whom, of all others, instruction is the 
most necessary. 

Fortified by these observation, T venture to record some 
additional facts communicated by persons on whose accuracy 
reliance may be placed. 



296 APPENDIX.— ORGANIC LAWS. •> 

A gentleman, who has paid much attention to the rearing 
of horses, informed me, that the male race-horse, when excit- 
ed, but not exhausted, by running, has been found by experi- 
ence, to be in the most favourable condition for transmitting 
swiftness and vivacity to his offspring. Another gentleman 
stated, that he was himself present when the pale gray color 
of a male horse was objected to ; that the groom thereupon 
presented before the eyes of the male another female from 
the stable, of a very particular, but pleasing, variety of col- 
ors, asserting, that the latter would determine the complex- 
ion of the offspring ; and that in point of fact it did so. The 
experiment was tried in the case of a second female, and the 
result was so completely the same, that the two young horses, 
in point of color, could scarcely be distinguished, although 
their spots were extremely uncommon. The account of La- 
ban and the peeled rods laid before the cattle to produce spot- 
ted calves, is an example of the same kind. 

Portal mentions the hereditary descent of blindness and 
deafness. His words are : ' Morgagni has seen three sisters 
dumb " oVorigine." Other authors also cite examples, and I 
have seen like cases myself.' In a note, he adds, ' I have 
seen three children out of four of the same family blind from 
birth by amaurosis, or gutta szrzna? — Portal, Memoires sur 
Plusieurs Maladies, tome iii. p. 193. Paris, 1808. 

In the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. I., there are 
several valuable articles illustrative of the Organic Laws in 
the inferior animals. I select the following examples : 

' Every one knows that the hen of any bird will lay eggs 
although no male be permitted to come near her ; and that 
those eggs are only wanting in the vital principle which the 
impregnation of the male conveys to them. Here, then, we 
see the female able to make an egg, with yolk and white, 
shell and every part, just as it ought to be, so that we might, 
at the first glance, suppose that here, at all events, the fe- 
male has the greatest influence. But see the change which 
the male produces. Put a Bantam cock to a large sized hen 
and she will instantly lay a small egg ; the chick will be short, 



APPENDIX. ORGANIC LAWS. 297 

in the leg, have feathers to the foot, ancTput on the appearance 
of the cock ; so that it is a frequent complaint where Bantams 
are kept, that they make the hens lay small eggs, and spoil 
the breed. Reverse the case ; put a large dunghill cock to 
Bantam hens, and instantly they will lay larger eggs, and the 
chicks will be good-sized birds, and the Bantam will have 
nearly disappeared. Here, then, are a number of facts known 
to every one, or at least open to be known by every one, clear- 
ly proving the influence of the male in some animals ; and as 
I hold it to be an axiom that nature never acts by contraries, 
never outrages the law clearly fixed in one species, by adopt- 
ing the opposite course in another, — therefore, as in the case 
of an equilateral triangle on the length of one side being given 
we can with certainty demonstrate that of the remaining ; so, 
having found these laws to exist in one race of animals, we are 
entitled to assume that every species is subjected to the self- 
same rules, — the whole bearing, in fact, the same relation to 
each other as the radii of a circle.' 

1 A Method of obtaining a greater number of One Sex, at the 
option of the Proprietor, in the Breeding of Live Stock. — Ex- 
tracted from the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. 
I. p. 63. 

' In the Annales de l'Agriculture Franchise, vols. 37 and 
38, some very interesting experiments are recorded, which 
have lately been made in France, on the Breeding of Live 
Stock. M. Charles Girou de Buzareingues proposed, at. a 
meeting of the Agricultural Society of Severac, on the 3d of 
July, 1826, to divide a flock of sheep into two equal parts, so 
that a greater number of males or females, at the choice of 
the proprietor, should be produced from each of them. Two 
of the members of the Society offered their flocks to become 
the subjects of his experiments, and the results have now been 
communicated, which are in accordance with the author'^ 
expectations, 



298 



APPENDIX. ORGANIC LAWS. 



8 The first experiment was conducted in the following man- 
ner : He recommended very young rams to be put to the 
flock of ewes, from which the proprietor wished the greater 
number of females in their offspring ; and also, that, during 
the season when the rams were with the ewes, they should 
have more abundant pasture than the other ; while, to the 
flock from which the proprietor wished to obtain male lambs 
chiefly, he recommended him to put strong and vigorous rams 
four or five years old. The following tabular view contains 
the result of this experiment. 



Flock for Female Lambs. 



Flock for Male Lambs. 



Age of the Mothers. Sex of the Lambs, 



Age of the Mothers. 



Sex of the Lambs. 



Two years. 
Three years, 
Four years, 



Males. Females. 
. 14 26 
. 16 29 
. 5 21 



Two years, 
Three years. 
Four years, 



Males. 
. 7 
. 15 
. 33 



Total, .... 35 76 
Five years and older, 18 8 

Total, .... 53 84 

N, B.— There were three twin 
births in this flock. Two rams 
served it, one fifteen months, the 
other nearly two years old. 



Total, .... 55 
Five years and older, 25 

Total, .... 80 



Females. 

3 

14 

14 

31 

24 

55 



N, B, — There were no twin 
births in this flock. Two strong 
rams, one four, the other five 
years old, served it. 



* The second experiment is thus related by the author : 
^During the summer of 1826, M. Cournuejouls kept, upon a 
very dry pasture, belonging to the village of Bez, a flock of 
106 ewes, of which 84 belonged to himself, and 22 to his 
shepherds. Towards the end of October, he divided his flock 
into two sections, of 42 heads each, the one composed of the 
strongest ewes, from four to five years old ; the other of the 
weakest beasts under four or above five years old. The first 
was destined to produce a greater number of females than 
the second, After it was marked with pitch in my presence! 



u*> 



APPENDIX. ORGANIC LAWS. 299 

it was taken to much better pasture behind Panouse, where it 
was delivered to four male lambs, about six months old, and of 
good promise. The second remained upon the pasture of 
Bez, and was served by two strong rams, more than three 
years old. 

' The ewes belonging to the shepherds, which I shall con- 
sider as forming a third section, and which are in general 
stronger and better fed than those of the master, because 
their owners are not always particular in preventing them from 
trespassing on the cultivated lands, which are not inclosed, 
were mixed with those of the second flock. The result was, 

that the 

Males. Females. 

First Section gave, .15 25 

The Second, 26 14 

The Third, 10 12 

In the First Section there were Two Twin Births, 4 

In the Second and Third there were also Two, 3 1 

' Besides these very decisive experiments, M. Girou relates 
some others, made with horses and cattle, in which his suc- 
cess in producing a greater number of one sex rather than an- 
other also appears. The general law, as far as we are able 
to detect it, seems to be, that, when animals are in good con- 
dition, plentifully supplied with food, and kept from breeding 
as fast as they might do, they are most likely to produce fe- 
males. Or, in other words, when a race of animals is in cir- 
cumstances favourable for its increase, nature produces the 
greatest number of that sex which, in animals that do not pair, 
is most efficient for increasing the numbers of the race : But, 
if they are in a bad climate, or on stinted pasture, or, if they 
have already given birth to a numerous offspring, then nature, 
setting limits to the increase of the race, produces more males 
than females. Yet, perhaps, it may be premature to attempt 
to deduce any law from experiments which have not yet been 
sufficiently extended. M. Girou is disposed to ascribe much 
of the effect to the age of the ram, independent of the con- 
dition of the ewe.' 



300 APPENDIX. DEATH. * 

Note III. 

death. — Text, p. 183. 

The decreasing Mortality of England is strikingly support- 
ed by the following extract from the Scotsman of 16th April 
1828. It is well known that this paper is edited by Mr Charles 
Maclaren, a gentleman whose extensive information, and 
scrupulous regard to accuracy and truth, stamp the highest 
value on his statements of fact : and whose profound and com- 
prehensive intellect warrants a well-grounded reliance on his 
philosophical conclusions. 

6 Diminished Mortality in England. The diminution 
of the annual mortality in England amidst an alleged increase 
of crime, misery, and pauperism, is an extraordinary and start- 
ling fact, which merits a more careful investigation than it has 
received. We have not time to go deeply into the subject : 
but we shall offer a remark or two on the question, how the ap- 
parent annual mortality is affected by the introduction of the 
cow-pox, and the stationary or progressive state of the popula- 
tion. In 1780, according to Mr Rickman, the annual deaths 
were 1 in 40, or one-fortieth part of the population died every 
year ; in 1821, the proportion was 1 in 58. It follows, that, 
out of any given number of persons, 1000 or 10,000, scarcely 
more than two deaths take place now for three that took place 
in 1780, or the mortality has diminished 45 per cent. The pa- 
rochial registers of burials in England, from which this state- 
ment is derived, are known to be incorrect, but as they con- 
tinue to be kept without alteration in the same way, the errors 
of one year, are justly conceived to balance those of another, 
and they thus afford comparative results upon which consider- 
able reliance may be placed. 

' A community is made up of persons of many various ages, 
among whom the law of mortality is very different. Thus, ac- 
cording to the Swedish tables, the deaths among children 
from the moment of birth up to 10 years of age, are 1 in 22 



APPENDIX.— -DEATH. 301 

per annum ; from 10 to 20, the deaths are only 1 in 185. 
Among the old again, mortality is of course great. From 70 to 
80, the deaths are 1 in 9 ; from 80 to 90, they are 1 in 4. Now, 
a community like that of New York or Ohio, where marriages 
are made early and the births are numerous, necessarily con- 
tains a large proportion of young persons, among whom the 
proportional mortality is low, and a small proportion of the old 
who die off rapidly. A community in which the births are nu-' 
merous, is like a regiment receiving a vast number of a young 
and healthy recruits, and in which, of course, as a whole, the 
annual deaths will be few compared with those in another re* 
giment chiefly filled with veterans, though among the persons 
at any particular age, such as 20, 40, or 50, the mortality will 
be as great in the one regiment as the other. It may thus 
happen, that the annual mortality among 1000 persons in 
Ohio, may be considerably less than in France, while 
the Expectation of Life, or the chance which an individual 
has to reach to a certain age, may be no greater in the former 
country than in the latter ; and hence we see that a diminution 
in the rate of mortality is not a certain proof of an increase in 
the value of life, or an improvement in the condition of the 
people. 

* But the effect produced by an increased number of births 
is less than might be imagined, owing to the very great mor- 
tality among infants in the first year of their age. Not hav- 
ing time for the calculations necessary to get at the precise re- 
sult, which are pretty complex, we avail ourselves of some 
statements given by Mr Milne in hi3 work on Annuities. 
Taking the Swedish tables as a basis, and supposing the law 
of mortality to remain the same for each period of life, he has 
compared the proportional number of deaths in a population 
which is stationary, and in one which increases 15 per cent, 
in 20 years. The result is, that when the mortality in the sta- 
tionary society is one in 36.13, that in the progressive society 
is one in 37.33, a difference equal to 3J per cent. Now, the 
population of England and Wales increased 34.3 per cent, in 
the 20 years ending in 1821, but in the interval from 1811 to 
26 



302 APPENDIX. DEATH. ** 

1821, the rate was equivalent to 39J per cent, upon 20 years ; 
and the apparent diminution of mortality arising from this cir- 
cumstance must of course have been about 84 per cent. We 
are assuming, however, that the population was absolutely sta- 
tionary at 180, which was not the case. According to Mr 
Milne (p. 437,) the average annual increase in the five years 
ending 1784, was 1 in 155 ; in the ten years ending 182], ac- 
cording to the census, it was 1 in 60. Deducting, then, the 
proportional part corresponding to the former, which is 3i, 
there remains 5 J. If Mr Milne's tables, therefore, are cor- 
rect, we may infer that the progressive state of the population 
causes a diminution of 5i per cent, in the annual mortality — a 
diminution which is only apparent, because it arises entirely 
from the great proportion of births, and is not accompanied 
with any real increase in the value of human life. 

' A much greater change — not apparent but real— was pro- 
duced by the introduction of the vaccination in 1798. It was 
computed, that, in 1795, when the population of the British 
Isles was 15,000,000, the deaths produced by the small-pox 
amounted to 36,000, or nearly 11 per cent, of the whole annu- 
al mortality. (See article Vaccination in the Supplement to 
Encyclopedia Britannica, p. 713.) Now, since not more than 
one case in 330 terminates fatally under the cow-pox system, ' 
either directly by the primary infection, or from the other dis- 
ease supervening : the whole of the young persons destroyed 
by the small-pox might be considered as saved were vaccina- 
tion universal, and always properly performed. This is not 
precisely the case, but one or one and a-half per cent, will 
cover the deficiencies ; and we may therefore conclude, that 
vaccination has diminished the annual mortality fully nine per 
cent After we had arrived at this conclusion by the process 
described, we found it confirmed by the authority of Mr Milne, 
who estimates in a note to one of his tables, that the mortality 
of 1 in 40, would be diminished to 1 in 43 — 5, by exterminat- 
ing the small-pox. Now, this is almost precisely 9 per cent. 
4 We stated, that the diminution of the annual mortality be- 
tween 1780 and 1821 was 45 per cent., according to Mr Rick- 



APPENDIX. DEATH. 303 

man. If we deduct from this 9 per cent, for the effect of vac- 
cination, and 5 per cent, as only apparent, resulting from the 
increasing proportion of births — 31 per cent, remains, which, 
we apprehend, can only be accounted for by an improvement in 
the habits, morals, and physical condition of the people. Inde- 
pendently, then, of the two causes alluded to, the value of hu- 
man life since 1780, has increased in a ratio which would di- 
minish the annual mortality from 1 in 40 to 1 in 52A, — a fact 
which is indisputably of great importance, and worth volumes 
of declamation in illustrating the true situation of the labour- 
ing classes. We have founded our conclusion on data deriv- 
ed entirely from English returns ; but there is no doubt that 
it applies equally to Scotland. It is consoling to find, from 
this very unexceptionable species of evidence, that though 
there is much privation and suffering in the country, the situa- 
tion of the people has been, on the whole, progressively im- 
proving during the last forty years. But how much greater 
would the advance have been, had they been less taxed, and 
better treated ? and how much room is there still for future 
melioration, by spreading instruction, amending our laws, 
lessening the temptations to crime, and improving the means 
of correction and reform ? In the mean time, it ought to be 
some encouragement to philanthropy to learn, that it has not 
to struggle against invincible obstacles, and that even when 
the prospect was least cheering to the eye, its efforts were si- 
lently benefitting society.' 

It has been mentioned to me, that the late Dr Monro, in 
his anatomical lectures, stated, that, as far as he could observe, 
the human body, as a machine, was perfect, — that it bore with- 
in itself no marks by which we could possibly predicate its de- 
cay, — that it was apparently calculated to go on forever, — and 
that we learned only by experience that it would not do so ; 
and some persons have conceived this to be an authority against 
the doctrine maintained in Ghap. III. Sect. 2., that death is 
apparently inherent in organization. In answer, I beg to ob 
serve, that if we were to look at the sun only for one moment 



304 APPENDIX.— DEATH. ** 

of time, say at noon, no circumstance, in its appearance, would 
indicate that it had ever risen, or that it would ever set ; but, 
if we had traced its progress from the horizon to the meridi- 
an, and down again till the long shadows of evening prevail- 
ed, we should have ample grounds for inferring, that, if the 
same causes that had produced these changes continued to 
operate, it would undoubtedly at length disappear. In the 
same way, if we were to confine our observations on the hu- 
man body to a mere point of time, it is certain that, from the 
appearances of that moment, we could not infer that it had 
grown up, by gradual increase, or that it would decay ; but 
this is the case only, because our faculties are not fitted to pen- 
etrate into the essential nature and dependencies of things. 
Any man, who had seen the body decrease in old age, could, 
without hesitation, predicate, that, if the same causes which 
had produced that effect went on operating, dissolution would 
at last inevitably occur ; and if his Causality were well devel- 
oped, he would not hesitate to say that a cause of the decrease 
and dissolution must exist, although he could not tell by exam- 
ining the body what it was. By analysing alcohol, rfo person 
could predicate, independently of experience, that it would 
produce intoxication; and, nevertheless, there must be a cause 
in the constitution of the alcohol, in that of the body, and in 
the relationship between them, why it produces this effect. 
The notion, therefore, of Dr Monro, does not prove that death 
is not an essential law of organization, but only that the hu- 
man faculties are not able, by dissection, to discover that the 
cause of it is inherent in the bodily constitution itself. It does 
not follow, however, that this inference may not be legitimate- 
ly drawn from phenomena collected from the whole period of 
corporeal existence. 



APPENDIX. MORAL LAWS. 305 

Note IV. 

INFRINGEMENT OP THE MORAL LAWS. Text, p. 231. 

The deterioration of the operative classes of Britain which 
I attribute to excessive labor, joined with great alternations 
of high and low wages, and occasionally with absolute idle- 
ness and want, is illustrated by the following extracts : — 

1 Unemployed Weavers in Lanarkshire. On Satur- 
day last, a meeting of weavers' delegates from the various 
districts in this neighbourhood, was held in the usual place. 
The object of the meeting was to receive from the several 
districts an account of the number of weavers out of employ- 
ment, which statement it was intended to lay before the Lord 
Provost and Magistrates. The following are the returns giv- 
en in : — Anderston contains 708 looms, of which 386 are idle. 
Baillieston-toll contains 150 looms, of these 98 are empty. 
The district of North Bridgeton contains, in whole, between 
400 and 500 looms. The returns are only from about one- 
half of this district, which contains 150 empty looms. For 
the centre and south districts of Bridgeton, the accounts are in- 
complete. In the former 180, and in the latter 60, empty looms 
were taken up. In Charleston there are 132 idle. In Cow- 
caddens, of 300 looms, 120 are idle. In Clyde, Bell, and To- 
bago Streets, of about 500 looms, there are 74 idle ; and 100 
working webs which cannot average 8d. a-day. In Drygate, 
there are 105 idle ; in Drygate-toll 73 ; in Duke Street 18. 
In Gorbals, containing 365 looms, there are 223 idle. In Ha- 
vannah, out of 130 looms, there are 48 idle. In the district 
of Keppoch-hill, of 70 weavers, there are 20 idle. The dis- 
trict of King Street is divided into ten wards ; returns are 
only given in from four, which contain 70 empty looms. In 
Pollockshaws, containing about 800 looms, there are 216 idle. 
In Rutherglen there are 167 idle. In Springbank, of 141 
weavers, there are 58 unemployed ; and in Strathbungo, con- 
26* 



306 APPENDIX. MORAL LAWS. ^ 

taining 104 looms, there are 28 idle, 25 of whom are married 
men. Parkhead, Camlachie, and some other extensive dis- 
tricts, have not yet given in their returns. The delegates, 
before separating, appointed a general meeting to be held in 
the Green this day, to decide upon an address to the Magis- 
trates, requesting them to endeavour to procure employment 
for the idle hands.' — Glasgow Chronicle, Tuesday, March, 
1826. 

' Sheep Trade. The late commercial crisis, like a death- 
blow, has paralysed the whole activity of the country, and 
left scarcely a single branch of its' trade and industry unscath- 
ed. It was at first fondly hoped that the storm would pass 
without such remote districts as our own having much reason 
to complain of its visitation ; but nothing, as the present in- 
stance proves, is more certain than that the distresses of the 
commercial, must also in all cases be more or less felt by the 
agricultural classes of the community. The demand for wool 
has now so far ceased as to operate most injuriously upon the 
price of sheep, which cannot presently be sold but at a very 
considerable loss to the farmer. In the latter part, or " back 
season," as it is called, of 1824, black- faced ewes — their exam- 
ple applies equally to the other kinds — were bought in for 
wintering at from 8s. to 12s. a-head ; and, in the spring of 
1825, immediately before lambing-time, these were disposed of 
in the English markets at so great a profit, that every farmer 
who could at all enter into the speculation, bought up at the 
end of the ensuing harvest, as much of that description of 
stock as his quantity of keep would reasonably permit. The 
number of sheep over those of the preceding year, which 
were bought up for this purpose, may be judged of from the 
fact, that the highest inlay price of 1824 was the lowest of 
1825 — the rate for the latter year being, for black-faced ewes, 
from J 2s. to 18s. But the present crisis came, — the manufac- 
turers of England were obliged to retrench at meals in the ar- 
ticle of mutton, — the demand on the part of the butchers con- 
sequently ceased ; and now those sheep which were purehas- 




APPENDIX. MORAL LAWS. 307 

ed at so extravagant a rate, are necessarily sold, upon an av- 
erage, at a loss of 2s. a-head upon the inlay price, without at 
all estimating the expense of keep. We know one extensive 
moorland farmer, who calculates upon losing two hundred 
pounds in the present year from this cause alone, besides a 
vast loss which he must also sustain in consequence of the re- 
duced price of wool. This cessation of demand in England 
was unfortunately not fully ascertained until several droves of 
lambing ewes had been dispatched to that quarter ; and the 
embarrassment of those who are placed in this predicament 
is the more afflicting, as their knowledge has been acquired 
too late to allow of their availing themselves of the House of 
Muir, and other northern markets.' — Dumfries Courier, March, 
1826. 

1 Details upon the Subject of Weavers' Wages, from the last 
Report of Emigration extracted from the Scotsman Newspaper, 
of 10th November, 1827. 

< Joseph Foster, a weaver, and one of the deputies of an 
emigration society in Glasgow, states that the labor is all 
paid by the piece ; the hours of working are various, some- 
times eighteen or nineteen out of twentyfour, and even all 
night once or twice a- week ; and that the wages made by such 
labor, after deducting the necessary expenses, will not amount 
to more than from 4s. 6d. to 7s. per week, some kinds of work 
paying better than others. When he commenced working as 
a weaver, from 1800 to 1805, the same amount of labor that 
now yields 4s. 6d. or 5s. would have yielded 20s. There are 
about 11,000 hand-looms going in Glasgow and its suburbs, 
some of which are worked by boys and girls, and he estimates 
the average net earnings of each hand-weaver at 5s. 6d. The 
principal subsistence of the weavers is oatmeal and potatoes, 
with occasionally some salt herring. 

' Major Thomas Moodie, who had made careful inquiries in- 
to the state of the poor at Manchester, states, that the calico 
and other light plain work at Bolton and Blackburn, yields the 



308 



APPENDIX. MORAL LAWS. 



weaver from 4s. to 5s. per week, by fourteen hours of daily 
labor. In the power-loom work, one man attends two looms, 
and earns from 7s. 6d. to 14s. per week, according to the fine- 
ness of the work. He understood that during the last ten 
years, weavers' wages had fallen on an average about 15s. 
per week. 

'Mr Thomas Hunton, manufacturer, Carlisle, states, that 
there are in Carlisle and its neighbourhood about 5500 fami- 
lies, or from 18,000 to 20,000 persons dependent on weaving. 
They are all hand-weavers, and are now in a very depressed 
state, in consequence of the increase of power-loom and fac- 
tory weaving* in Manchester and elsewhere. Taking fifteen 
of his men, he finds that five of them, who are employed on 
the best work, had earned 5s. 6d. per week for the preceeding 
month, deducting the necessary expenses of loom-rent, can- 
dles, tackling, &c. ; the next five, who are upon work of the 
second quality, earned 3s. lid.; and the third five earned 3s. 
7Jd. per week. They work from fourteen to sixteen hours 
a-day, and live chiefly on potatoes, butter-milk, and herrings. 

' Mr W. H. Hyett, Secretary to the Charity Committee in 
London, gives a detailed statement, to shew, that, in the Hun- 
dred of Blackburn, comprising a population of 150,000 persons, 
90,000 were out of employment in 1826! In April last, when 
he gave his evidence before the Committee, these persons had 
generally found work again, but at very low wages. They 
were labouring from twelve to fourteen hours a-day, and 
gaining from 4s. to 5s. 6d. per week.' 

6 Poor Rates, 2Sth March, 1828. — A document of great 
importance, though of a description by no means cheering, 
has been presented to the House of Commons, — the annual 
Abstract of the Returns of the Poor Rates levied and expend- 
ed, with comparisons, shewing their increase or diminution. 



* In what is called factory- weaving, an improved species of hand- 
loom is employed, in which the dressing and preparation of the web 
is effected by machinery, and the weaver merely sits and drives the 
shuttle. 



APPENDIX.— MORAL LAWS. 



309 



The accounts shew the expenditure of the year ended 25th 
March, 1827, compared with the previous year. The total 
sum levied in all the counties of England and Wales, in the 
last year, was £7,489,694 ; the sum expended for the relief 
of the poor, £6^179,877. The increase in that year through- 
out the whole of England and Wales, is nine per cent. ; nine 
per cent, in one year on the whole sum expended. It is true 
that this is in part to be accounted for by the temporary dis- 
tress of the manufacturing districts. (In Lancaster, the in- 
crease was fortyseven, in the West Riding of York, thirtyone 
per cent.) ; but we are sorry to find, that in only three counties 
of England was there any the most trifling diminution. In 
Berks two, Hampshire five, Suffolk four per cent. The poor 
rates in England, therefore, amount to nearly double the 
whole landed rental of Scotland.' 

1 Extract from the Lord- Advocates Speech in the House of Com- 
mons, Wth March, 1828, on the additional Circuit Court of 
Glasgow, 

1 The Lord- Advocate, in rising to move for leave to bring 
in a bill to "authorize an additional Court of Justiciary to 
be held at Glasgow, and to facilitate criminal trial in Scot- 
land," said he did not anticipate any opposition to the mo- 
tion. A great deal had been said of the progress of crime in 
this country, but he was sorry to say crime in Scotland had 
kept pace with that increase. A return had been made of 
the number of criminal commitments in each year, so far 
back as the year 1805. In that year the number of criminal 
commitments for all Scotland amounted only to 85. In 1809 
it had risen to between 200 and 300; in 1819-20, it had in- 
creased to 400 ; and by the last return, it appeared, that, in 
1827, 661 persons had been committed for trial. He was in- 
clined to think, that the great increase of crime, particularly 
in the west of Scotland, was attributable, in no small degree, 
to the number of Irish who daily and weekly arrived there. 
He did not mean to say that the Irish themselves were in 
the habit of committing more crime than their neighbours ; 



310 APPENDIX. MORAL LAWS. -> 

but he was of opinion, that their numbers tended to reduce 
the price of labor, and that an increase of crime was the 
consequence. Another cause was the great disregard mani- 
fested by parents for the moral education of their children. 
Formerly the people of Scotland were remarkable for the 
paternal care which they took of their offspring. That had 
ceased in many instances to be the case. Not only were 
parents found who did not pay attention to the welfare of 
their children, but who were actually parties to their criminal 
pursuits, and participated in the fruits of their unlawful pro- 
ceedings. When crime was thus on the increase, it was 
necessary to take measures for its speedy punishment. The 
great city of Glasgow, which contained 150,000 inhabitants, 
and to which his proposed measure was meant chiefly to ap- 
ply, stood greatly in need of some additional jurisdiction. 
This would appear evident, when it was considered that the 
court which met there for the trial of capital offences, had 
also to act in the districts of Renfrew, Lanark, and Dumbar- 
ton. In 1812, the whole number of criminals tried in Glas- 
gow was only 31 ; in 1820, it was 83 ; in 1823, it was 85 ; and 
in 1827, 211. — The learned lord concluded by moving for 
leave to bring in a bill to authorize an additional circuit court 
of justiciary to be held at Glasgow, and to facilitate criminal 
trial in Scotland.' 



THE END. 



June, 1829. 

CARTER h HENDEE 

Will publish this month, 
STORY'S PLEADINGS, Oliver's Edition, 1 vol. royal 8vo. 

This work was originally collected and arranged by Judge Story, 
with occasional annotations by him on the various subjects which 
occur in the course of it, and is referred to with approbation in 
several places in Dane's large Abridgement of American Law. In 
this second edition, he has revised his former notes and has furnished 
some other new materials. The rest of the work, as it now appears, 
jta added by the present editor, Benjamin L. Oliver, Jr. (the 
author of Practical Conveyancing, and the new American Prece- 
dents), and consists of an Introduction to the whole work, containing 
a summary of the law of pleading in general; as also a concise 
introduction to the appropriate pleadings used in each paiticular form 
of action ; and copious notes on the more important pleas ; &c. These 
additions, amounting in quantity to about. one hundred and fifty pages, 
are introduced, without much increasing the number of pages con- 
tained in the former edition, by merely enlarging the page, and 
altering the style of printing, and the appearance of the book is 
greatly improved by the alteration. 

They have also in press and will publish the first week in July, 

THOUGHTS ON DOMESTIC EDUCATION, the Result of 
Experience. By a Mother, Author of 'Always Happy,' ' Claudine,' 
6 Hints on the Sources of happiness,' &c. 

Just published, 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, No. 38. 
Contents. — Pestalozzrs Principles and Methods of Instruction. — 
Degerando on Self Cultivation. — Historical Notice of M. de La Salle, 
and of the Foundation of the Brethren of the Christian Doctrine. — 
Education of the Female Sex. — Bacon's Philosophy.— Interrogatory 
Instruction. — Infant School in Baltimore. — Early Education. — Botany 
for Schools. — Intelligence. Boston Society for the diffusion of Use- 
ful Knowledge. — Essay on the Honey Bee. — Education in Greece. — 
JVotices. Works in the Department of Education, Books for Children. 

THE SCHOOL MAGAZINE, No. 1. 

Contents. — Manual for Elementary Schools. — JVotices. Exam- 
ples of Questions, calculated to excite and exercise the Minds of the 
Young, by Mrs Elizabeth Hamilton. — Essays on the Philosophy of 
Instruction, or the Nurture of Young Minds. — Elements of Geometry, 
with Practical Applications, for the Use of Schools. 

BUCKMINSTER'S SERMONS, now first published from the 
Author's manuscripts. 

GEBEL TEIR. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. S 

THE GARLAND OF FLORA. 

In Eastern lands they talk in flowers, 
And tell in a garland their loves and cares, 
Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers, 
On its leaves a mystic language bears. 

PercivaL 

5 The book is admirably adapted for the purposes of a May present, 
and deserves a conspicuous place in the libraries of all who are fond 
of Floral pursuits.' — Boston Dai. Adv. 

4 Like Flora's Dictionary, it gives the metaphorical meaning of 
every flower; interesting and various accounts of the ceremonies, 
festivals, &c. in which flowers have been used, are given. Those 
who take an interest in watching the various associations these beau- 
tiful productions have excited in gifted minds through all ages of the 
world, will be pleased with this genteel little volume, with its bright 
engraving, its white margin, its fair type, and its neat half binding 
of silk and delicate paper.' — Mass. Journal. 

6 A work most happily calculated as a suitable and seasonable " gift 
for the fair." ' — Evening Bulletin. 

OURIKA, a Tale from the French. 

This is to be alone — this, this is solitude. — Byron. 

TO THE READER. 

The subjoined extract from the Memoirs of Madam de Genlis is 
all that need be said of the following tale. 

Cambridge, May 1, 1829. 

« The Dutches of Duras at length consented to the publication 

of her delightful tale, Ourika, which had before been printed only 
for the gratification of a small number of friends. I spoke of it in 
society with admiration, a work too strong for those who judge of a 
work only by the number of its pages, the theatrical strokes it con- 
tains, or the reputation of its author. But even these are compelled 
to praise Ourika, though, they content themselves with the epithet* 
pretty and beautiful; true, it contains much of grace and beauty, 
but it also contains comparisons ingenious and new, invention and 
talent.***** 

6 There is true genius in the conception, and in the painting, 
which is traced in a manner equally charming and simple— a genius 
which could reside only in a mind of purity; and the developement 
is made with so much truth, that even those who may not perceive 
all its beauties, cannot fail to read it with deep interest.' 

CLEVELAND'S FIRST LESSONS IN LATIN, upon a new 
plan, comprising Abstract Rules, with a progressive series of prac- 
tical Exercises. 

JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY, improved by Todd, Abridged for 
the Use of Schools ; with the addition of Walker's Pronunciation, 
an Abstract of his Principles of English Pronunciation, with Ques- 
tions, a Vocabulary of Greek, Latin, and Scripture Proper Names, 
and an Appendix of Americanisms. 









-p/ 



. . ' +. 



•^ -^ 



'K " I 1 A ' 



A' 



* ' v : 









" /% 



*N 



W 



•*-, 



^ 



A 



fc 

^ 






c° v 



O0 N 



\ 



0: 



o5 ^ > 



a * ,<v 






^ 



.#%. 



^ y 






V- V- 



\ ^- .£ ^ \ 






F % * 



\ v 






^ * H , A 









/ 


'^ 




















* 




0^ 




'/ 








■.% 




; " " 





■N* y % 















W 



\ 







u 



V 



v v 







,-fc° 



^ v* N 



\ 



0o v 



1 o^ c- 






& r L "- 









^ v* 1 










%* " 



N 




vV t/> 






v- V 












,0 0, 



'O, 






** A^' 






V * * 



^ 



- 









A* 






O- S 









*> 



*3>** 



^' % 



V 



n> S 






\ 












»> 



*!,. 






,-cr 






k V "% 



,* .«,*' 













- 






c 






O0 l 

«5 ^ 



*>' 









A* * 



\ v 









